UK shoppers awful at saving money

Shoppers in the UK are worse at shopping than their European neighbours, and second from bottom at saving money.

When scored on thriftiness, self-control, openness to trying new products, comparison shopping (in store and online), and researching items before buying, British shoppers finished dead last in Visa's new shopping IQ test.

Britons came last at researching products, second bottom at both trying new products and saving money, and fourth from bottom at self control.

"This study shows that there is potential for us all to improve our shopping IQ to some degree and pick up some tips from our European neighbours," said Greg Twitcher of Visa UK.

But while last overall, Britons scored highly at comparing different products in shops.

The UK came first in the best 'comparison shoppers' in Europe category.

Fittingly, comparatively shopping intelligence between men and women is equal - but different.

Men scored higher for avoiding impulse buying but women did better at keeping costs down. Men also research and compare products more keenly, whether before or during shopping.

People displayed the highest shopping IQ when buying electronic goods and mobile phones, with Visa noting that the expense of these products see shoppers do more research and price consider prices more carefully.

Shopping IQ is lowest with food and clothes purchases with impulse buys seeing budgets fly out the window.

Visa's study of 8,500 shoppers across nine EU states produced the following national league table:

1. Poland
2. France
3. The Czech Republic
4. Germany
5. Sweden
6. Hungary
7. Spain
8. Italy
9. UK XXX