Archive for October, 2007
Sample some Great Wines at Asda!
Asda have a great new scheme going - well, it’s great if you’re a wine lover like me! When I saw I’m a wine lover I must point out that what I mean is I love a glass of wine. I’m certainly no wine connoisseur! Therefore, when faced with a whole aisle of wine I always struggle as to which bottle to buy. It usually comes down to price. I never opt for anything over a fiver (unless it’s for guests!) and I usually go for the bottles that have money off - the ones that were over a fiver, but have been reduced to under a fiver. I feel then that I’m getting a decent wine. So, back to Asda’s offer. Basically, you buy one of the mini bottles of wine, take it home, drink it and if you like it, you return to the store with your receipt and you can buy the larger bottle minus the price of the smaller bottle you’ve already paid for. So you end up getting more than a bottle of wine for less than the price of a bottle of wine. What’s more, you’re saving money on a wine you already know you’ll enjoy. It really is a great idea. I’m a big fan of Asda anyway, so I’ll definitely be popping in to stock up on taster bottles and when I go back for the full size versions, I’ll be patting my back pocket with smug satisfaction of money saved, like only an Asda shopper can!
Men who Shop!
It never ceases to amuse me when I go shopping on a Saturday and go into some of the larger stores (I’m thinking in particular of M&S) and sitting on the chairs outside the changing rooms laden with bags are a collection of husbands and boyfriends waiting patiently (or not) while their wives or partners try on several different outfits. Sometimes the women emerge from the changing room modelling an outfit hoping for some feedback. Some men are good at offering their satorial advice. Others clearly would rather be anyway else than a stuffy, crowded shop on a Saturday afternoon!
Some men absolutely love to shop. Others see it purely as a function rather than a leisure activity. They need a pair of jeans, so they go for a pair of jeans. There is no browsing involved, no picking up things they didn’t go for, they simply go, try on the jeans, pay for them and come home satisfied that the job is done for another 6 months! Why then do women insist on taking men shopping with them? Some do so in the vain hope, that the men will grow to love shopping and develop a real passion for it. If you do go shopping with a man who likes to shop it can be a very worthwhile experience - you get a different perspective on things and can return home with some lovely things you might not have given a second glance to if you’d be shopping with friends. And for the men who don’t enjoy it? I say don’t try to change them. Leave them at home doing something they enjoy and then they’ll have no excuse not to be an enthusiastic spectator for your fashion show when you return home!
Has the Internet taken the Pleasure out of Shopping?
What is it you enjoy about shopping? Is it the browsing? Is it the visual pleasure of looking at all the different products on display? Do you like to pick things up or try things on? many of us enjoy going shopping, because it can be a day out, combined with meeting friends and catching up over a coffee or a spot of lunch. Women, in particular like to go shopping together to get a second opinion and advise each other. So, has the Internet spoiled our pleasure of shopping? It has been argued that it has, but I think there is plenty of room for both. I still enjoy the buzz I get from visiting the highstreet, browsing, buying and coming home with a range of bags. I also like the convenience of being able to shop in the comfort of my own home. Every now and then a social event pops up (I do manage to get out occasionally) and I simply don’t have time to get out to shop for a new outfit. It’s at times like that when Online Shopping really comes into its own. I can quickly bring up a selection of tops, dresses and trousers from my favourite store, search through them without worrying about the crowds and order them to be delivered to my doorstep the very next day.
And let’s face it. Many of the people who regularly use the Internet to shop are those who have never taken any pleasure in traipsing around the shops in town. So, in my opinion (humble as it is), the Internet hasn’t taken the pleasure out of shopping - it’s simply increased the scope and therefore maximised the pleasure!
Do you like to Serve Yourself?
Most of the supermarkets have now introduced self-service check outs. I was intrigued and less than convinced when I first saw them and I’m still not a big fan. I suppose they’re ok if you pop in at lunchtime for a sandwich, a bag of crisps and a drink. It’s when you’ve got a big shop that things start getting complicated. You have to select from an on screen menu to find the correct fruit and veg and weigh it before getting a price, which can take a fair bit of time. I suppose this is why I’m so dubious of their benefits. Self service tills are designed to speed things up a bit, but in my (admittedly not vast) experience they actually seem to slow things down. As you scan your items, it’s easy to think something hasn’t gone through then to end up putting it through twice and having to work out how to take it off the bill again. Once you’ve negotiated all the different menus and scanned your shopping through you then have the interesting task of selecting your payment method which, again, seems fraught with problems.
My first question about the self-service tills was one of honesty and trust - how would they know you were actually scanning all your goods rather than letting a few slip through unpaid? it was pointed out to me that someone stands nearby to oversee the process. So why don’t they just sit at the till and do it for you? Because they can watch over a couple of Self-service tills at the same time. How? Have they got eyes in the back of their head! I stood at the till the other day next to a lady (off the TV) using a self-serve till and I was far quicker. I got the feeling she’d chosen that till to avoid the interaction of being recognised. Unfortunately for her, everything was going wrong and an assistant had to come over to help her put everything through which surely defeats the object!
Cutting the Queues
Tesco recently had an advertising campaign stating that if there is ever more than one person queuing in front of you at the till they will open another till. Sounds good, but does it actually happen? Not in my experience! Just the other week, I was shopping in my local Tesco on a Wednesday afternoon and the queues were so long that you couldn’t get past as you were trying to walk across the end of the aisles. There was no sign of anyone jumping up to open another till even though there were spare tills available. People were trying to manoeuvre their trolleys to let other trolleys get past and, understandably, people were getting impatient. Then a lady waiting behind me saw an assistant and asked if they could open another till. The assistant nodded and then disappeared. No till was opened. It’s a shame really, because I’m a big fan of Tesco’s advertising with their clever play on words and in theory, the idea of cutting the queues and opening a new till if there is more than one person in front of you certainly gets my vote. I’m sure it does happen occasionally, but in this instance they failed to come up with the goods!
Where’s the Coffee?
Grocery shopping is so much easier once you are familiar with the layout of the supermarket. I even know people who write their shopping list in the order that they pick items up as they go around the shop - now that’s organised! I like it when you know exactly where to head to for your bread or milk. It’s good to be focussed and it prevents you picking up things you didn’t go in for. Why then do they always change the store layout just as you get used to where to find things? You rush into the supermarket to pick up a couple of items, head straight to the aisle where you usually find them and there’s something else there - how frustrating!
Seasonal merchandising in particular, means you have to traipse up and down the aisles looking for the toilet roll because it’s usual location is jam-packed with Easter eggs or Christmas Tree decorations! I understand that at certain times of the year, the shops have to have a change around to accommodate seasonal stock, but when they do it ‘just for fun’, I’m not laughing! Especially when there isn’t a friendly assistant around to point you in the right direction. Or, worse still, when you find one and they haven’t got a clue where the coffee is ‘because they keep moving everything around!’
Is Shopping ever Embarrassing?
Personally I absolutely love lingerie shopping. I love any kind of shopping, but there’s something about all those brightly coloured bras and pants that make me feel they will change my life if I buy them. And they do - they make me poorer every month and make the underwear spill out of my chest of drawers because no matter how hard I try to cram it in, I should simply accept I really don’t need any more undies - now that’s what I call embarrassing!
Forbidden Fruit
What is it about normally overpriced cosmetics and toiletries that makes me buy them as soon as there is a slight reduction? Last weekend my husband gave me two tickets to the Estee Lauder Company Store in town. Someone had dropped them into his office and he thought I could go and treat myself. So, with a friend, I queued up waiting outside a little room where they were only letting more people go in as some came out. Already this made me intrigued! Now, before I went, I didn’t really know what to expect so thought I’d see if I could maybe pick up a lipstick, eyeshadow and an eye cream. An hour later and £140 lighter I emerged with two huge carrier bags full of cosmetics, firming creams and lucky dip bags!
There was something about it that made me need to buy as much as possible. Maybe it was the fact that there were so many branded goodies that were much more reasonably priced than usual, maybe it was the gorgeous fragrances or maybe it was the fact that I felt there was a time limit on us. I even tried to be sensible, stopping to think whether or not I really needed things then putting them back. If only I’d known what was going to be available before I’d gone in, I’d have made a list of Christmas presents. As it is, I know own tons of make-up I don’t need, I’ve bought lots of presents people won’t use and the stuff I did want I wouldn’t have paid that much for normally so now feel too guilty to enjoy using it!
When is an Offer actually an Offer?
Are we actually saving money when we succumb to all these ’special offers in the 
supermarket? What is it about them that seems so attractive? I get sucked in almost every time, coming home with bagfuls of stuff that if I’m brutally honest with myself, I don’t really need! But then is it about need? Is the point of an offer to treat ourselves to things we wouldn’t normally buy? But then it’s not really an offer is it, because if it isn’t something we would normally buy, then we’re not actually saving money, we’re spending more! My favourite sorts of offers are BOGOFs. No, I’m not being rude - I’m talking about ‘Buy One, Get One Free’. If you go for your supermarket shop and lots of the things on the shopping list you made before you left home are on BOGOF then you’re saving in the long run. And the same goes if the items on your list, are reduced. In that case you’re benefiting from the offer. My problem is, as soon as I go into a store and see the reduced labels or special offers signs, I start looking at items I wouldn’t normally dream of buying and leave the shop delighted with my ‘bargains’. This is short-lived when I get home, unpack and realise I’ve actually bought a load of tat that will sit in the bottom of the drawer! Do you think I’ve got a problem?
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