That’s according to the latest survey by kalahari.com, South Africa’s largest and most popular online retailer.
These were the standout results in the kalahari.com Christmas 2014 poll:
• Cheap and nasty toiletries are the most hated gifts. Ugly décor items, IOU’s, inappropriate clothing and socks were also on the unwanted list.
• Most South Africans disliked the gifts they received from their loved ones because these were “not to their taste” or “cheap ‘n nasty”.
• Most denied that they personally gave bad gifts, however those who admitted to having bought bad gifts in the past, said it was because the gift suited their budgets!
• Most people say their partner is the hardest to buy a gift for
Topping the wish lists were:
Vouchers – 32% of respondents preferred to choose their own gifts – asking for vouchers instead of wrapped presents
Tech Gadgets like tablets and mobile phones – 30%
Jewellery came in third with 29%, and
Fragrances also proved popular at 28% of the vote.
And finally, although almost everyone surveyed agreed that they love the festive cheer that comes with the season as well as he ubiquitous Christmas carols, but could shopping centres please not play Boney M carols? The German pop group of the seventies proved, unsurprisingly, to be really unpopular by Xmas shoppers.
“It’s clear that South Africans like to pick out their own gifts, but when they do nominate a gift, they go for the luxury items. You can also tell that they are discerning judging by what the most unpopular gifts were: the ones that were seen as ‘ugly or not my taste’, ‘cheap ‘n nasty or ‘impersonal’,” says Kirby Gordon, head of brand and communication at kalahari.com.
In the poll, most respondents were reluctant to admit that they had ever bought a bad gift, but those who came clean said they had been guilty of buying bad gifts in the past because they could not afford better ones (33%), while “I could not find anything else” (23%) and “I ran out of time” (22%) were also prime bad gift excuses.
The majority (33%) said the hardest person to buy a gift for was their partner. According to the poll, dad was the hardest parent to buy for while mother-in-laws were also tough to please.
But grandparents, it seems, were the easiest to please.
On the topic of festive jingles, a resounding majority came out in defense of Christmas carols with almost half saying they “loved them all”. But of those who did not like carols, the message was loud and clear – anything from Boney M as well as George Michael’s Last Christmas made sure that the respondents Xmas spirit would dissipate as quickly as snowflakes under the African sun. “Well that’s what people seem to claim,” responds Gordon. “I believe that it’s more a case of love to hate when it comes to Boney M, because we literally sell hundreds of copies of that CD every year at this time and there are no signs of decline on that trend”.
Kalahari.com is SA’s largest online retailer with more than 12 million products, of which most are the coveted types of items (at great value), not the cheap ‘n nasty stuff your grandmother gets from the toiletries isle in the supermarket. The survey quoted above was conducted via an online poll to an unbiased sample of kalahari.com shoppers. There were 2580 complete responses.
