A new poll by the UK’s fastest growing online independent travel agent has found that over half of Brits are potentially missing out on bargains abroad, after 54% of respondents claimed they were ‘too embarrassed’ to haggle.

New nationwide research by the UK’s fastest growing online independent travel agent of 1,673 people has found that 54% of respondents are ‘too embarrassed’ to haggle the price down when buying goods on holiday, a skill that can save tourists a lot of money abroad.

The poll by www.sunshine.co.uk found that only a quarter of respondents, 26%, have haggled on holiday, with 86% of these saying they ‘really enjoyed’ bargaining with merchants abroad. 7% of the total respondents weren’t aware you could try to get the price down when buying products on holiday.

Of those who have haggled before, the most common products tourists try to get at a bargain price are electrical goods, with 34% saying they had managed to get a discount when buying electronic items such as handheld games consoles, cameras and MP3 players.

Next on the list of items targeted by holiday hagglers was clothing and accessories, with 21% admitted to having got the price down on a garment or fashion item whilst on holiday such as sunglasses and dresses.

Of those that said they were ‘too embarrassed’ to haggle, 24% said it was because it made them feel ‘desperate’ whilst 11% claimed they felt ‘cheap’. 8% said they were ‘scared’ and 3% didn’t want to ‘offend’ the seller.

5% of the respondents who said they do haggle said they had previously done so in a place where they weren’t supposed to.

Chris Brown, co-founder of www.sunshine.co.uk, commented on the findings;

“It’s such as shame that more people aren’t embracing the art of haggling whilst on holiday, as there is so much money to be saved. Tourists shouldn’t be embarrassed to try and get the price of products down, as the merchants are so used to it and most even enjoy bartering with their customers.

“Beach sellers that come around offering items such as sunglasses and novelty products are the best people to haggle with, as we’ve often heard from holidaymakers who have dramatically cut the cost of products they bought. With the Euro now much weaker than it was, tourists should take advantage of the bargains available by learning the art of haggling.”

LINK http://www.sunshine.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange interviews with Chris Brown, please contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 or email [email protected]

Editors Notes

http://www.sunshine.co.uk is the UK’s leading online independent travel agent and was founded by Chris Brown and Chris Clarkson, the same people behind Holiday Watchdog which was bought by TripAdvisor in February 2008 for an undisclosed amount of money. Sunshine.co.uk offers low cost holidays and budget flights to destinations all over the world as well as great deals and discounted hotels.

Research by the UK’s leading discount website has found that just 24% of Twitter users want to see promotional tweets in their feed, with 68% admitted to being ‘unhappy’ with the development.

Twitter.com founder, Biz Stone, yesterday announced on the Twitter blog that the company was unveiling ‘promoted tweets’ as a means of monetising the popular 140 character service, with initial partners including Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Virgin America, with ‘promoted tweets’ by these companies set to appear in search pages on the social networking site.

A study of 1,219 people was conducted to gain feedback about the tweeted advertisements by city deal website, www.Groupola.com, and has found that initial feelings about the marketing move are not positive.

One quarter, 24%, of UK Twitter users said they were ‘happy’ with the move, compared to 68% that said they were unhappy with the fact their Twitter experience would start to include commercial tweets. The remaining 8% said they were interested to see how the commercial inclusion would play out.

Despite the number of users that said they were unhappy with promoted tweets, when asked the question, “in what other ways, besides promoted tweets would Twitter be able to monetise?”, 74% of Brits admitted that they ‘didn’t know’.

17% said they thought Twitter could monetise by having the site ‘sponsored’ by brands in regional areas, providing them with targeted location-based brand promotion depending on the region the user is in when they sign up. Just 2% said they thought Twitter could charge users to use the service.

Mark Pearson, Managing Director of Groupola.com had the following to say,

“The Twitter team have clearly had some difficulty coming to terms with the fact that to survive, they have to monetise. It’s as simple as that.

“Twitter really is the media’s social networking darling, and for something this big to have been valued at $1bn and go on existing without some form of revenue stream is unwise and has been baffling for all other entrepreneurs.”

He continued,

“I believe this could work out very well for Twitter, and should help the investors start to see a return on their money. As with any change, there will be resistance for a short period of time, but I think the level of loyalty Twitter users show will soon outweigh the negativity surrounding the move.

“From an online business perspective, it will be extremely interesting to see how well the initial brands fare through their promoted tweets, as I could definitely see the idea of promoting our daily city-specific deals through Twitters as a viable marketing option to aid in the promotion of group buying discounts.”

http://www.Groupola.com works because of ‘group buying power’, a new-to-the-UK way to save money, that will give users the ability to save money on restaurants, spa days, beauty and hairdressing, experience days, sport and leisure activities, theatre, concerts and much more.

LINK http://www.Groupola.com

ENDS

For more information, please contact Rich Leigh, 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on 01452 348 211, [email protected] or on Twitter @goodandbadpr

EDITORS NOTES

Overnight, Groupola.com became the biggest Group Buying Power website in the UK when it launched in February

Groupola.com operates in 8 of the largest cities across the UK, including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Mark Pearson, MD of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 29 his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year

Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

Margaret Thatcher has been voted the female politician Brits would most like to share a takeaway with, whilst Nelson Mandela tops the International poll.

To commemorate the impending General Election, the UK’s leading takeaway website www.Just-Eat.co.uk asked more than 2,400 members of the public to list the UK politicians they’d most like to ‘have a takeaway with’, in the style of the age-old ‘who would you invite to a dinner party?’ question.

A study of 2,413 British adults has found that Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher are the perfect political pair from the past or present, according to the UK’s leading takeaway website http://www.Just-Eat.co.uk, with Nelson Mandela voted the international politician Brits would most like to pick the brains of.

When asked the multi-answer question, “which politician, alive or dead would you most like to share a takeaway with?” which included a short biography of each politician alongside it, Brits were united in their decision that former Conservative Wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill would be their number one choice of takeaway partner.

The top ten UK politicians, past or present that respondents most wanted to share a takeaway with are;

1. Winston Churchill – 81%
2. Margaret Thatcher – 76%
3. Mo Mowlam – 72%
4. Harold Macmillan – 67%
5. Neville Chamberlain – 64%
6. Ted Heath – 60%
7. David Lloyd George – 52%
8. Michael Heseltine – 49%
9. Tony Benn – 44%
10. Aneurin Bevan – 42%

Clement Attlee, who led the Labour party between 1935 and 1955, serving as the country’s Prime Minister after the Second World War from 1945 to 1951 came eleventh in the list of great politicians.

When asked, “which International politician, past or present would you most like to share a takeaway with?”, more than 90% of Brits said they’d like to sit down to a takeaway meal with former South African President and anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela, who was closely followed by former American President Abraham Lincoln with 85%.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of USSR and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize took third position, with four fifths of Brits admitting they’d like to pick his brains over a takeaway.

1. Nelson Mandela – 92%
2. Abraham Lincoln – 85%
3. Mikhail Gorbachev – 82%
4. George Washington – 74%
5. John F. Kennedy – 71%
6. Barack Obama – 69%
7. Bill Clinton – 67%
8. María Eva Duarte de Perón (Evita) – 63%
9. Fidel Castro – 59%
10. Jacques Chirac – 52%

David Buttress, UK Managing Director of Just-Eat had the following to say,

“Whether you’re a fan or not, politics affects all of us, and with the General Election fast approaching, we wanted to investigate the politicians, past or present, the British public would most like to sit down for a takeaway with.

“Winston Churchill was always going to be a frontrunner, so the interest for us lay in how close The Iron Lady of politics was to being the number one takeaway partner! This list can essentially be taken as a top ten of the greatest UK politicians past and present.”

He continued,

“The race to Number 10 is heating up, but time will tell whether or not the current crop of politicians will be considered for lists like this in years to come!”

ENDS

For further information, or to speak to Just-Eat, please contact Rich Leigh, of 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on 01452 348 211, [email protected] or on Twitter @goodandbadpr

EDITORS NOTES

Just-Eat was listed in the TechCrunch Europe Top 100 Index 2010 http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/02/03/the-new-techcrunch-europe-top-100-index-is-your-startup-in-it/

Just-Eat was founded in Denmark in 2000

Just-Eat services 40,000 meals a day

Just-Eat have received and dealt with more than 7,000,000 meal orders

Just-Eat has 4000 takeaway restaurants signed up to its UK site and uses its patented Just-Eat technology to offer a seamless on-line ordering service including latest menus.

After receiving an increasing amount of enquiries from male holidaymakers about whether the hotel they will be visiting will be showing the World Cup this summer, the UK’s fastest growing online independent travel agent has commissioned research to find out more about the rising panic.

New research commissioned by one of the UK’s leading online independent travel agents of 2,634 men aged 18-30 has looked into attitudes towards holidaying during the World Cup.

Www.sunshine.co.uk wanted to run the poll after noticing an increasing amount of enquiries in the run up to the World Cup as to whether or not the resort they would be staying in would be showing the matches. Of the men polled, 27% already have a holiday abroad booked for this year and 31% are planning to book one.

Of those who are or are potentially going away this year, 62% said they wanted to watch the World Cup and more than 1 in 3, 36%, of those abroad at the time of the competition said they would be checking whether their hotel, resort or somewhere in the surrounding area would be showing the games. Nearly half, 49%, said they felt anxious at the thought of missing a match that they wanted to see.

14% said they were using the World Cup as an excuse to go abroad, admitting the warm weather made for nicer surroundings to enjoy the game in. Only 8% said they would rather have stayed home during the World Cup, whilst 22% admitted it was their partner that had persuaded them to go away.

The study by http://www.sunshine.co.uk also found that 12% had contacted their hotel to check what other nationalities were going to be staying there during the World Cup and nearly a quarter, 23%, said they would rather check in to a hotel with more English guests, to avoid a clash over the match results.

54% said they would prioritise watching a World Cup match over any other activities on holiday.

Chris Brown, co-founder of http://www.sunshine.co.uk, commented on the findings;

“After already looking into women’s opinions of the World Cup and finding how a large number planned to go on holiday to avoid the game, we wanted to hear more from men about their thoughts on the subject.

“Judging by the research results and the number of panicked enquiries we have had at sunshine.co.uk, it’s clear that many men are worried about missing out if the go abroad whilst the World Cup is on. Luckily, it’s given away in the name that the World Cup is a widely appreciated game, so I don’t think there’s any danger of people not being able to find somewhere to watch the match on holiday.”

LINK http://www.sunshine.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange an interview with somebody about sunshine.co.uk, contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 or email [email protected]

Editors Notes

Sunshine.co.uk is the UK’s leading online independent travel agent and was founded by Chris Brown and Chris Clarkson, the same people behind Holiday Watchdog which was bought by TripAdvisor in February 2008 for an undisclosed amount of money. Sunshine.co.uk offers low cost holidays and budget flights to destinations all over the world as well as great deals and discounted hotels.

The UK’s only recruitment agency review site has today revealed that three  in four British workers would have considered taking a pay cut or cutting down on their hours if their company was in financial difficulty during the recession.

New nationwide research conducted by the UK’s only recruitment agency review site had revealed that nearly  three in four workers would have taken pay cuts or worked less hours during the recession in a bid to save their company.

Www.HireScores.com polled 1,298 people to see how far people would have gone during the recession in order to keep hold of their jobs and save their company. Of those who would make a compromise, 63% said that they would have been willing to take a pay cut in order to save their company if the recession had affected the business financially.

Of those who said they would take a cut, one in five, 21% said that they would have taken a cut of up to 5% if it meant they could stay in their current employment. Half said that they would be willing to take a 2% decrease in their wages, with only one in ten people claiming they would allow a 10% decrease. Of the people that said they would take a pay cut, half said they would only do so if their boss were to take one too.

61% of those polled said that they would be willing to do more hours for no extra money in an attempt help out their employer. Four in five people who believed that this would help their company said that they thought it would eliminate the need for the employer to hire temps or extra staff to cover the workload.

The top things employees would have done to save their jobs and company during the recession are:

1. Take a pay cut – 63%
2. Work over time for no extra money – 61%
3. Work less hours – 52%
4. Go without annual bonus– 46%
5. Print less – 39%
6. Unpaid leave – 37%
7. Give up their company car – 35%
8. Give up their work phone– 33%

Of the 26% workers who said that they wouldn’t make an allowance in order to help their employer out, one in three, 34%, said that they didn’t care about the job that they had. Half, 49% said that they were unable to make any changes to their working hours or pay due to their living commitments, whilst 17% said that they didn’t like their boss enough.

Lisette Howlett, Managing Director of http://www.HireScores.com said;

“I think it is great that so many of those in employment are willing to make compromises in order to save their company, such as taking pay cuts, cutting down on hours and by taking unpaid holiday. This level of support should give many companies the confidence and ability to work their way through the recession.”

She continued;

“It is interesting to note how much more willing people became if their boss did something first, which says quite a bit about the importance of strong, authentic leadership during challenging times. Also interesting is the number of people who were not willing to make a change who stated that this was because they did not like their boss enough.”

***ENDS***

Link: http://www.HireScores.com

Gabrielle Lofthouse, 10 Yetis PR
Tel: 01452 348 211
E: [email protected]
T: @Gabriella_PRowl

Note to Editors

About HireScores.com:

HireScores.com website is totally independent and not linked to a job board or recruiter which makes it ideally placed to provide such information
HireScores.com is committed to fair feedback with checks and balances in place to support this
Free to use for all with a strong and growing knowledge centre, Blog and Forum
Lisette has over 20 years industry experience with such firms as ICI,
Zeneca/AstraZeneca and Syngenta as well as local government and the public sector.

A Report released today by Tweetminster shows that while Labour politicians dominate conversations on Twitter compared to the two other main parties, the Conservative Party’s reach is comparable to that of mainstream media channels.

www.Tweetminster.co.uk today released a report on UK Politics and Twitter, analysing how politicians, parties and the political media are using the service.

The report analysed over 830,000 tweets during the course of 2009. It showed that collectively the Labour party has more followers (113,201) than both the Conservatives (36,874) and the Liberal Democrats (32,202) combined.

With 17% of parliament on Twitter, there are now more MPs tweeting than there are ones blogging. 59% of MPs on Twitter are Labour (23% Liberal Democrats and 13% Conservative), with the party’s  Media Campaigns Spokesperson, Kerry McCarthy (@kerrymp), resulting as the most active, mentioned and retweeted MP on Twitter, followed by fellow Labour MPs Tom Harris (@tomharrismp) and Tom Watson (@tom_watson). For the Conservatives, Grant Shapps (@grantshapps) and Eric Pickles (@ericpickles) are amongst the 20 most retweeted MPs, Liberal Democrats’ Jo Swinson (@joswinson) and party leader Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) also make the same list.

Amongst the 223 PPCs on Twitter the differences between parties are far narrower.  The majority, 38%, are Conservative, yet Labour PPCs collectively have more followers – 22,140. The top-three positions for most active and influential PPCs are also shared between the two parties: Labour’s Paul Smith (@bristolwestpaul) and Luke Pollard (@lukepollard), and Conservatives’ Louise Bagshawe (@louisebagshawe) and Rene’ Kinzett (@ReneKinzett).

The report also analysed media, journalists and influencers. While established media, like The Economist, The Guardian, Sky News and the Financial Times top the list for most followers, journalists (Channel 4’s @krishgm), bloggers (@timmontgomerie and @iandale) and activists (@bevaniteellie) receive more mentions and retweets.

Tweetminster included in the report their 5 top-findings based on the data collected:

1 – In terms of politicians, the Labour Party dominates all key metrics – collectively Labour MPs and PPCs are more active, more frequently mentioned (i.e. have greater reach) and have more followers than the two other main parties combined.

2 – Senior party members can play a critical role in connecting with members of the public: Nick Clegg and Eric Pickles standout in all tables well above their party’s average metrics.

3 – The findings for official party accounts show a different picture – the Conservatives not only have significantly greater reach than the other main parties, their posts tend to have greater distribution (i.e. mentions and retweets) than established media and key bloggers.

4 – The data shows that the Conservatives are more effective at distributing their message from the top, yet less so at a grassroots level in terms of spreading these positions within conversations (this should be the work of supporters, MPs, PPCs). While Labour has the opposite challenge – members drive conversations, yet the official line doesn’t strategically trickle down. The Liberal Democrats are somewhere in between – while the data is in-line with expectations, and reach-wise the party punches above its weight when looking at the number of followers, their challenge is breaking into conversations that go beyond party supporters, especially in terms of how these then influence the mainstream media agenda.

5 – While as expected established mainstream news sources have a higher number of followers than bloggers and commentators, individual journalists and bloggers receive more mentions and retweets. This is probably due to a combination of factors – including that the latter are more engaging, post different angles and commentary around a story, and established sources tend to broadcast links (that followers may click on but not interact with the source) or stories that followers have caught up with elsewhere. Comparatively the blogospheres of the two main parties show relatively similar figures in terms of followers and reach.

Alberto Nardelli, Co-founder of Tweetminster said:

“Based on our data we feel that the next election (on Twitter at least) will be between the Conservative party machine and Labour’s grassroots activists’.”

He continued;

“Individual journalists will be interesting to follow, beyond the media organisations they represent, will play a critical role in influencing how a message is framed.”

For the full report go to: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25769228/Twitter-UK-Politics-a-Tweetminster-Report

LINK: http://www.tweetminister.co.uk

***ENDS***

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Alberto Nardelli, please contact Gabrielle Lofthouse, 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on 01452 348 211 or [email protected]

Further Information

TweetMinster

TweetMinster.co.uk is a service that tracks UK politics in real time, showcases Members of Parliament and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates on Twitter, and ultimately promotes better and more transparent communications between voters and Members of Parliament.

TweetMinster is a public service project developed by Thin Martian and UnLtdWorld.com

As technology develops, the average British day gets longer, with 37% of Brits admitting to being a slave to their phone. 1 in 5 BlackBerry and iPhone users claim they spend a minimum of 10 extra unpaid hours per week making calls, responding to emails and sorting work problems in the evenings and at the weekends.

With continuous technological advancements, the human need to stay connected is now easier than ever but more than a third of Brits claims they have become a slave to their phone; feeling lost without it and 23% sleep with their mobile beside their bed, according to a study by Rightmobilephone.co.uk.

A study of 1,226 British workers commissioned by the UK’s leading mobile phone price comparison website, has found that 1 in 3 admit to working out of hours on a weekly basis; replying to emails via their BlackBerry and making urgent calls and 1 in 5 claims to spend a minimum of 10 additional hours of unpaid work per week, in the evenings and weekends.

Despite the fact that 43% consider their BlackBerry to have made their lives less stressful and 28% prefer to stay connected with the office and their emails, almost 20% of British workers now feel pressurised to respond to client and colleague emails out of office hours and 35% claim to have had their evening or weekend ruined because of reading an email from an annoyed or demanding client.

www.Rightmobilephone.co.uk found that for 53% of people, their mobile phone is one of the first things they see in the morning. 24% of people check their emails via their BlackBerry before they leave for the office and 14% have already read and replied to emails before they even officially start their working day.

Speaking about the results, co-Managing Director of Rightmobilephone.co.uk, Neil McHugh said;

“Mobile phone technology is now so advanced that we are able to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues around the clock. The problems start when clients and management expect emails to be dealt with at the weekends and when the phone is going off throughout the night with various problems that need to be sorted.

“As long as expectations are set with clients, this technology can really make your working life easier; a day out of the office no longer has to mean a day out of the loop, people can now work remotely and keep up to date with all emails, thus preventing a stressful and unexpected start to the day.

“Family time is however extremely important and even though I fully understand the instant urge to check my emails in the morning, perhaps our loved ones should be the first people to get our attention!”

The study also revealed that 18% of people do not put their Out of Office on when they are off work as they know they will still be contactable via their mobile phone throughout the duration of their holiday. Unsurprisingly, 38% admit that their family members would prefer them to leave their BlackBerry device off when they are not at work and devote time to them.

LINK http://www.rightmobilephone.co.uk/

***ENDS***

For further information or to set up interviews with Neil McHugh or James Zielinski please contact Andy Barr, 10 Yetis PR Agency, [email protected], 01452 348211.

Notes to editors

Rightmobilephone.co.uk was launched in November 2007 to help consumers save time and money by providing a trusted comparison platform for customers to purchase from.

The site has become the UK’s most comprehensive and user friendly mobile phone comparison engine, with over 350,000 + mobile phone offers combined with user friendly consumer reviews, ratings and video.

Users can review and compare over 800 handsets with images, specifications and video with unique users reviews, opinions and ratings provided by handset owners and compare over 2000 + pay as you go offers and tariffs from all major networks.

An internet based games console company can today reveal that the new PlayStation 3 Slim console is currently outselling the Xbox 360 by 10-1 as the Sony product becomes the must have product of 2009.

A web-based company that specialises in selling games consoles can today reveal that since the PlayStation 3 Slim Console came onto the market it has been out-selling the Xbox 360 by 10-1.

The business owns and operates www.Ps3PriceCompare.co.uk and www.CheapXbox360Consoles.co.uk, sites which scour all of the currently available prices from across the web to make sure its community can find the cheapest prices.

The previous weekend’s sales statistics represented such a shift from normal sales trends that the company investigated the reasons and found that searches for the two consoles via search engines were even more drastically split with over 250 PlayStation 3 Slim related searches for every 1 Xbox 360 related search.

Up until recently, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sales were fairly even. although the Sony product experienced more regular spikes in volumes than its competitor.

The retailers who are benefitting the most from the upsurge in sales are Amazon and Play.com with Amazon currently having the most competitively priced PS3 Slim at £249.96 and Play.com at £249.99.

The phrases being typed into Search Engines indicate that a large proportion of sales and enquiries relate to people attempting to find the cheapest PlayStation 3 Slim price in time for Christmas.

Speaking about the shift in sales, spokesperson for Ps3PriceCompare.co.uk and CheapXbox360Consoles.co.uk Mike Elsmore said,

“The dramatic change in sales volumes for the new PlayStation 3 Slim against the Xbox 360 led us to assume that our Xbox website had experienced down time, but we found that everything was working as expected and it was just that there is huge demand for the new product”.

He continued, “It is really clear to us that the PlayStation 3 Slim will be the must have Christmas present for 2009 and I imagine that every retailer would join us in hoping that Sony has sufficient stock to see everyone through the festive period”.

To read more about the sites visit: www.Ps3PriceCompare.co.uk and www.CheapXbox360Consoles.co.uk

END

Editors Notes

For more information contact Shannon Haigh at 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency, 01452 348211, [email protected]

Ps3PriceCompare has featured in the likes of The Sun, Pocket-lint.co.uk, Daily Express, Mirror & New York Daily News, Daily Telegraph and the Daily Star

Both sites use leading technology to search for and display the best prices for PS3 and Xbox consoles to help their communities save money.

A national study has revealed that Londoners are the most selfish people in Britain, being least likely to buy gifts for friends and colleagues but most likely to buy for themselves. Londoners are also least likely to help strangers in need.

Fun gift retailer www.Prezzybox.com can reveal that Londoners are the most selfish Brits when it comes to buying gifts for birthdays, Christmas and other occasions for friends and colleagues, preferring instead to buy things for themselves.

In a study of 1,912 Brits and also interrogating regional sales statistics, award-winning site Prezzybox.com has found that Londoners are the least likely to buy gifts for friends or colleagues. Just 34% of the Londoners who participated in the research had bought a friend a present in the past year.

Friends of second-placed Bristolians shouldn’t expect much in the way of gifts either, as just 42% of Bristol citizens said they had bought gifts of any price for friends and colleagues in the last year.

Leeds is the most giving city in the UK according to the research and sales stats, where 86% of respondents said they had bought gifts for friends in the past year.

Londoners are also least likely to help strangers, with over three quarters, 79%, saying they purposely avoided contact with people they didn’t know in the street, whilst people from Cardiff were most likely to stop to help, with just 12% saying they’d ignore strangers.

Here is the list of the 10 most ‘selfish’ cities in the UK, by per cent who had bought gifts for a friend or colleague in the last year:

London – 34%

Bristol – 41%

Rotherham – 42%

Norwich – 44%

Wolverhampton – 46%

Swansea – 48%

Middlesbrough – 51%

Dundee – 52%

Stoke-On-Trent – 54%

Bradford – 56%

Here are the ten most giving cities in the UK,

Leeds – 86%

Cardiff – 83%

Manchester – 79%

Southampton – 77%

Gloucester – 76%

Norwich – 74%

Oxford – 72%

Sheffield – 70%

Northampton – 67%

Birmingham – 67%

Zak Edwards, founder and managing director of leading fun-gift site Prezzybox.com had the following to say,

“London is supposed to be one of the most fun and ‘happening’ cities in the world, but it looks like they’re forgetting each other in all the hype!

“It definitely looks like the friendly people of Leeds have the right idea! Everybody loves to receive gifts and with the range of fun and affordable ideas available online, there’s never been an easier or better time to be a bit more giving.”

***ENDS***

For more information, or to arrange an interview or a venture into the lovely barn-converted Prezzybox premises please contact Shannon Haigh, 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 [email protected]

Notes to editors

Prezzybox was founded in 2000 by Zak Edwards. From a tiny rented office in an Industrial Estate in Leicestershire the team – Zak, Mom, Dad and Girlfriend busily began creating a gift site which was full of delightful products together with a number of features to make gift buying a breeze.

The site launched in 2001 with a raft of gift ideas and features – such as the gift wizard, wish list feature and referrals scheme – and has gone from strength to strength.

The site has enjoyed a 37% growth in visitors from last year and shows no sign of slowing down.

Having won the ‘Choice of Merchant’ and ‘Affiliate Manager of the Year’ awards in 2007 with an Honourable mention in ‘Innovation in Affiliate Marketing’ against Amazon.com, Prezzybox.com have continued to provide outstanding innovation and creativity in their online service.

Prezzybox.com also won ‘Best Use of Creative’ and ‘Best Merchant Innovation’ awards in 2008 with Zak Edwards being highly commended in the ‘Affiliate manager of the year’ award.

Prezzybox have also won ‘Innovative Merchant of the Year’ 2009 and Winners of Customer Service ‘ WOW’ Awards 2007-2009.