MAGAZINE: Top tips from shoppers on how to nail Bank Holiday shopping

There's no doubt shopping is a national past-time, and even for those that don't count ourselves as shopaholics, the thrill of securing a bargain is one of the greater pleasures in modern life.
Holiday shopping tipsHoliday shopping tips
Holiday shopping tips

And with new research from intu Trafford Centre showing one in seven of us will be hitting the shops this bank holiday weekend, there’s no doubt millions of us will be on the bargain-hunt.

And far from just being a mad-dash for clothes, it’s homewares that are likely to be in hot demand.

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The study shows that 7.7 million of us shop for homewares at least once a week, and we spend an average of £206.45 per year furnishing our living rooms, compared to just £135.14 on the perfect outfit.

Whether it’s homewares, clothes, toys or whatever we’re shopping for, the research shows that almost 40% like to see if they can save money when shopping, one in seven barter to get the price down, while one in 14 of us even try and barter to get freebies when they’re shopping.

And many of us go even further - the research also found...

27% return to the same item more than once before deciding to buy it

17% researching stores to see when they have sales

13% take pictures of the thing they want to buy so they can search around for the best deal or a cheaper alternative

11% hit the shops early to get the best sales

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7% try to find out from shop assistants if a sale is coming up

7% hide things they like somewhere in a shop so they can come back later to get it

6% go the shops at the end of the weekend when they think they will have reduced the price

But if you find it hard to snag a bargain when shopping... then help is it hand. We asked shoppers to give us their top bargain hunting tips and then we hooked them up to a heart rate monitor and attached a go-pro onto them to watch what happens to them when they find a good deal, or what happens when they don’t.