UK consumers turn to haggling to get a deal

CONSUMERS are saving £32.1 billion a year by embracing 
savings tactics picked up during the recession – and plan to keep saving even when the economic situation improves.

Cash-strapped shoppers have taken to using discount codes, vouchers, sale shopping and bargain-hunting to cut costs more than ever before – with more than half of shoppers admitting that there are items which they rarely, if ever, pay full price for.

A report by discount travel site Hotwire.com found that consumers save on average £4.4 billion per year by waiting for an item to go on sale before purchasing it, while haggling – previously a technique which was alien to British shoppers – has saved £2.2bn a year.

And 90 per cent of people who use a money-saving method of shopping at least once a month said that they would not revert to their old shopping habits even if things become financially more stable for them.

Fulvia Montresor, senior dir­ector at Hotwire.com, said: “This research reveals that Brits are becoming less and less shy about implementing money-saving strategies across all aspects of their life, and are even beginning to question why anyone wouldn’t use a discount.”

The growth of group discount sites such as Groupon has prompted people to look for discounts particularly in travel products.