The Press Release Wire has (unsurprisingly) been filled with much festive-focused data over the last month, but here is a deeper dive into some of the specifics you might be writing about right now – bargains, second-hand luxury, stress-inducing gifting and superhero workouts.

Need stats on something else entirely? Send a request to UK PRs, in-house teams at big brands and celebrity spokespeople via the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service.

Bargain hunting

What were the most popular items being hunted down by shoppers during Black Friday? According to research from quantilope, this year was all about energy-saving items including blankets and heaters. More than a quarter (28%) of shoppers were planning to make investments that would help save on energy bills this winter, while around a third (34%) wanted basic essentials for themselves and their family. Spending for spending’s sake and luxuries were out for many, according to the study of 800 consumers across the UK and US – a quarter of consumers said they would avoid the sales completely, while nearly half (46%) believe that Black Friday is overhyped. Read more here.  

One place where luxury items are certainly more affordable right now is the second-hand market. A recent survey from SellCell found that 28.7% of consumers are turning to secondhand goods and shopping in charity stores, while 41.4% said they would not buy ‘brand new’ technology. Read more here, and for which luxury and higher-end products and brands are being bought second-hand, check out a report on what the media are covering here on the Vuelio blog.

What doesn’t help with nabbing a bargain, or even maintaining a fair standard of living and planning for the future, is the continuing gender investment gap. Boring Money has revealed the numbers on the problem in the UK – men have £599 billion more than women in ISAs, investment accounts and private pensions, the average private pension is £99k for women, £39k less than for men. And for yet more perspective – the UK Gender Investment Gap is greater than the GDP of Switzerland. Read more here.

Stresses

If that last set of stats didn’t stress you out enough, we have more! Benenden Health’s poll of 2,000 Brits found the top ten most stressful life events. Understandably, losing a loved one was named the most stressful, with challenging financial periods coming second. Perhaps surprising, reading or watching the news is considered much more stressful than having a child or starting a new job. Take a deep calming breath and then read more here.

Also on that top ten list of stressful life events were changes in relationship (at number 4) and divorce (at number 5). Not making the list, but certainly stressful – getting married and paying for the wedding. Stats from Brideplan found that more than half of couples find the wedding planning process ‘stressful’. Which is very fair, considering that the average wedding in the UK costs more than £20,000 and takes 528 hours to plan. Read more here.

To save the older people in your life some stress over the festive season, get them something they will actually use. Parsley Box found that 30% of the older generation either don’t want most of the presents they receive or won’t use them. One in ten say these unwanted gifts just take up much needed space in their homes. What would they prefer to receive this Christmas? Food and drink. Top unwanted gifts? Make-up and craft kits. Read more here and plan your gifting carefully.

Workplace wellness

Major blocks to productivity at work, according to data from Laiye and Ciklum, include ‘boring’ and ‘inefficient’ office tasks – a big problem across the UK, with 54% of employers highlighting them as an issue. 50% of retail employers and 48% of financial institutions know their employees suffer from burnout, and both cite low job fulfilment as a Work Execution Gap. Read more here.

Some good news: WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and Trinity Business School may have found a cure for stress AND low productivity. The solution to workplace worries – ‘silly’ distractions. Any managers reading this – chatter and the odd YouTube vid watch could actually be beneficial to your bottom line. And they make people happier, which is always a good thing. Read more here.  

Superhero-level wellness

We finish our monthly round-up of reports, stats and surveys with something that may help you get ready for the onslaught of food and drink heading your way over the next few weeks – superhero workouts. Passion Digital investigated which heroic workout plans are being searched most across Google, YouTube and TikTok, and the results are in – most people want to workout (and look) like Batman (who got 198,330 searches), Thor (160,800 searches), Superman (147,950 searches) or Captain America (119,320 searches). A shortcut to looking like your favourite hero without any gym visits – just ask for a costume this Christmas. Read more here.

We provide these as a jumping-off point for your own research and you should perform your own checks on any of these stories – a few tips in this post. If you’d like to source experts, further information or case studies for any of these topics or something else you’re working on, head to the (free) Journalist Enquiry Service to save hours of research and expand your network of sources.