Sort your Xmas shopping on us!
Six shopping malls take the hassle out of Christmas gift buying with customised help.
TBy Cherie Howie is the season to be . . . stressed out. Or not. Last-minute Christmas shopping is a special kind of torture, but the property management company behind half a dozen major New Zealand malls has launched a free service to make buying Christmas gifts less onerous.
Super Shoppers will launch on Thursday, and Kiwi Property has teamed with the Herald on Sunday to gift two readers an exclusive Super Shopper experience and $500 each to spend on their nearest and dearest this festive season.
About 50 Super Shoppers have been recruited to work at each of Kiwi Property’s six malls — Sylvia Park and LynnMall in Auckland, Centre Place in Hamilton, The Plaza in Palmerston North, North City in Porirua and Northlands in Christchurch.
Customers can book an hour session, taking their entire list of people to buy for. The Super Shoppers will then review, select some suitable options and walk the customer around the stores.
Based on Nielsen research commissioned by Kiwi Property, it’s needed. Especially for blokes.
The survey of 4240 Kiwis showed women were more organised, with almost two-thirds buying Christmas gifts before December.
Only half of the men surveyed could say the same thing. Fifteen per cent admitted not even thinking about presents until the week before Christmas.
With a third of people buying gifts for 10 or more people, that’s a lot of last-minute stress. However, that could be good news for women.
Last-minute shopping could account for higher spending on female partners than male partners. On average gifts cost $40 more, with $150 spent on men and $191 on women.
Aucklanders were the worst for hitting the shops right up until Christmas Eve, with 40 per cent still shopping for gifts hours before Christmas.
Unsurprisingly, the survey also revealed 85 per cent of Kiwis find Christmas shopping stressful, with battling the crowds and traffic their biggest worries.
A quarter admitted that getting or giving the wrong present was their biggest concern.
That’s a whole lot of high blood pressure days at what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year.
Kiwi Property general manager of retail Karl Retief said the research showed there was a lot of pressure on buying the perfect Christmas gift.
“[Super Shoppers] will take away the stress.”
Despite a number of differences, the Nielsen research did show one thing men and women had in common — both were equally likely to need a nap on Christmas Day.