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-         A quarter of under 35 year olds already share purchases online; 65% act on recommendations according to new survey from BagThat.com

-         Online shopping to overtake high street for young adults in five years time

-         Two-thirds of Britons haggle; Alan Sugar crowned top celebrity haggler

London, 1 May 2012: The concept of social shopping is gaining momentum in the UK according to a research survey from BagThat.com, a new online retail site officially launching in the UK today. Social shopping is a new online shopping phenomenon which rewards shoppers with exclusive discounts for recommending products through social networks and the survey has found that more than a quarter (27%) of under 35 year olds have shared a purchase they have made on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

Up to 65 percent are also more likely to make a purchase if they receive a recommendation on social media.

People listen to friends most when shopping for recommendations. Forty three per cent of shoppers on average and fifty four per cent of under 35 year olds say they rely on friends’ recommendations the most as opposed to just 10 per cent who rely on a parent, and 5 per cent that rely on work colleagues.

BagThat.com is a new virtual store that uses the power of the social network to benefit consumers and suppliers alike to buy a wide range of high quality partner brands such as Samsung, Halfords, mydeco.com, Rush Hair & Beauty, TheGadget4U, Brook Taverner, Stewart Golf and the Real Wine Company.

BagThat allows customers to bid or ‘haggle’ for products. Instead of naming a firm price, people can choose what they are willing to pay.  The more people that get involved and bid on an item via social networking, the lower the price a product can sell for and the better the discount.

Online shopping to overtake high street for young adults

Social shopping seems set to drive a further boom in online shopping amongst young adults. Over half of shoppers aged between 18 and 34 think they will do more shopping online (51%) than offline in five years time.

On average, UK shoppers do 32 per cent of all their shopping online currently, but when asked how much they believe they will do in 5 years time, the amount increases to 45 per cent overall.

Online shopping has already been embraced by the British public. Only 10 per cent of people say they don’t ever do it and this falls to just 6 per cent in the 18 to 34 year old age range.  Almost a quarter of shoppers (23%) say they do more than half of all their shopping online.

This figure is highest with Londoners with 29 per cent saying they do more than half online compared to only 18 per cent in the North of England and Scotland.

Brits love haggling – two thirds bargain for a better price

BagThat also taps into the British public’s love of haggling. The survey shows that two thirds of consumers (65%) haggle to get a better price when shopping although a fifth of shoppers (20%) only haggle when abroad.

This means that even in tough times, less than half of Britons (45%) will try to haggle over prices on the UK high street.

Men (71%) are more likely to haggle than women (61%) and the likelihood of haggling also increases with age with 68 per cent of over 55 year olds haggling compared to 62 per cent in the 18 to 34 age bracket. The British however don’t rate themselves very highly as hagglers.

Only six per cent think they are excellent at it compared to 51% who say they are poor at it.

Alan Sugar crowned top celebrity haggler

While the British public think Alan Sugar would make the best celebrity haggler with a third (33%) choosing him based on his hardline approach, nearly half (48%) of shoppers also think that being a charmer is the key to face-to-face haggling. Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis ranks second with 26 per cent.

People presumably do not think that Jeremy Paxman’s probing interview technique would be helpful with only seven per cent saying he would be the best.

Female celebrities on the other hand don’t fare well as top hagglers – surprisingly only 10 per cent think Mary Portas would make the best haggler despite her high street know-how, only 8 per cent chose high profile TV property dealer Kirsty Allsop, and only 5 per cent believe the Scottish charm of Lorraine Kelly would make her the best haggler.

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