Too tired (and rich) to go shopping

David Ward
The Guardian, Wednesday August 30 2006

People who live in the south of England are too exhausted by demanding jobs to go shopping in real shops, according to a new survey. They rely on upmarket mail order catalogues and the internet to buy their designer frocks, vintage wines and furnishings for their expensive homes.

The survey, by the financial services group Experian, finds that no town north of Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire features in the top 20 of mail order spenders.

Those who reach for the glossy catalogues tend to live in the nicer bits of west London, the home counties and along the banks of the Thames. Barnes, where a three-bed terrace can cost £500,000, tops the table, with an average annual mail order spend of almost £150, £25 ahead of Henley-on-Thames, last year's No 1.

In London, Notting Hill, Putney, Teddington and Richmond all feature prominently, as do desirable towns in Oxfordshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire.

Okehampton in Devon, with an average spend of £99.51, makes a surprise entry at No 7. Crewkerne, just 50 miles away in Somerset, comes bottom of the table with just £67.

Only 10 areas in the north of England and Scotland appear in the top 100.

Most consumers in the top 20 areas were probably commuting to London during the week and reluctant to return to the city to shop, said Gillian Buttree, Experian's home shopping consultant.