Shopping Poll: 76% of Women Say They’re Bargain Hunters

If you want your store to get a second glance from female shoppers, the best way is to offer a bargain, according to a national poll. Over three-quarters of women (76 percent) consider themselves to be bargain hunters, with 10 percent admitting they enjoy the challenge of finding the best deal.

Money is the shoppers' main motivation , with 40 percent of women saying they bargain shop because they are on a limited budget, according to a national poll that appeared in Consumers Union’s ShopSmart magazine.

But it’s not the only reason many women go bargain shopping. Even if money were no object, 83 percent of women polled said they would seek out a deal. And when they’re bargain-hunting, they’re not shy about using coupons. Nine out of ten (91 percent) of women use coupons to get a better deal (including 51 percent who print coupons from the Internet), 29 percent use competitor coupons and 11 percent use coupons directly off their cell phones.

Female shoppers also hate to overspend, according to the survey. Two-thirds of women (65 percent) typically wait for a sale to purchase items. And 37 percent feel guilty if they pay full price without trying to get a deal.

“I’m such a sucker for a bargain, especially when I have a coupon or there’s a sale for 50 percent off,” said Lisa Lee Freeman, editor-in-chief of ShopSmart. “According to ShopSmart’s poll, many of us are helpless against a great deal, and retailers know this. However, there are so many new opportunities these days to shop smarter, and if you play the game right, you can save really big.”

But bargain-hunting women aren't immune to buyer's remorse when they buy something on sale that they don’t need. Nearly two-thirds of female shoppers have regretted at least one sale purchase, according to the poll. Of those who do have sales regret, only 38 percent typically try to rectify their error by returning the item; 16 percent will just put it in a closet or drawer.

When they do score a bargain, female shoppers like to spread the word . The majority of the survey respondents (90 percent) like to share the news of their bargains with others, including over one-third (35 percent) who tell anyone who will listen. But you may want to take their reports with a grain of salt. Nearly one-fifth (19 percent) of women confess to misleading others about how much they paid for a particular item.

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Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.