British shoppers spent an average of £183 during the recent festive period, but have returned, or plan to return, 70 per cent of their total spend, according to new Barclaycard figures.

The survey found that six in 10 UK shoppers admitted to being “spontaneous spenders” who cannot resist buying items on impulse when an offer is available. The top three impulse purchases made in the post-Christmas sales were clothes (53 per cent), shoes (22 per cent) and electronics (16 per cent).

Demonstrating the extent of impulse buying behaviour, the findings show that sales shoppers have splashed out an average of £183 each during the festive discount period, but have returned, or still plan to return, £128 worth of goods – working out as 70 per cent of their total spend.

Almost one in five sales shoppers (17 per cent) say they regret some or all of their sales purchases, with the main reasons cited as: buying items which did not fit (30 per cent), receiving online purchases which looked different when they arrived (24 per cent) and later deciding items they liked but didn’t try on didn’t suit them (22 per cent).

This year Barclaycard data showed that Friday December 30 was the busiest day for end-of-year sales shopping. The day saw the number of transactions increase by 23 per cent compared to the same day in 2015, as shoppers hit the sales before the weekend’s New Year’s celebrations began.

Sharon Manikon, customer solutions managing director at Barclaycard, said: “Sales can be an inviting time for people to indulge in a quick purchase, particularly for items coveted before a reduction – which can be a very cost effective way to shop. But it can be a good idea to set a budget in advance, because as our data shows, many shoppers can’t resist an offer or promotion and end up impulse-buying items which they don’t really need, and later come to regret.”

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