A frugal life is an easy life!

To the tune of "Here come the girls," experian (along with other "footfall" information gathering companies reporting) have announced 17% & 18% increases for Boxing day and Sunday trading, after Christmas 2009.

Here are my Top five reasons for not believing a word the "experts" say:

1. Figures are based on "Footfall" - footfall figures count you when you enter a shop/store. They are no proof of any purchases made at all.
2. The figures are provided by firms whose business is marketing - these companies are masters in the art of self promotion, if they have nothing to "report" then they cannot make any profits! Anyone with half a brain can see that they have a vested interest.
3. Experian (who put out the report) state, "shoppers maybe racing to beat the VAT increases that are due in January 2010" - On a £200 purchase, the VAT increase would be just £5.00 - record numbers of shoppers are making purchases now because of the 2.5% increase in VAT on items? Utter rubbish!
4. A more than 17% increase in "footfall" figures can be seen as exceptional as pre-Christmas performance was a lot slower paced - Meadowhall shopping centre (Near Sheffield) reported a 38% increase on customer numbers before Christmas, Waitrose reported sales were up £4.4 Million on last year and experian themselves said that, "consumers were making the most of this year's final few shopping days" (Christmas eve, BBC website), now experian are telling us before Christmas that footfall was slower paced - it doesn't sound like experian know what they are talking about to me!
5. BBC reports "Millions spent on Christmas eve shopping!" - they based the entire story on Sainsbury's credit card staff telling them that 19% of the adult population of the UK intended to shop on Christmas eve, "More than 13m people were expected to do Christmas Eve shopping, spending the equivalent of £57m an hour" - for starters their sums are wrong, if 19% of the adult population is equal to 13 Million people, then the population of the UK would be a fraction under 70 Million, which it is not.
   Secondly, I am amazed that Sainsbury's credit cards can speak for any one of their customers, about what they will do in the future.
   I'm assuming here that Sainsbury's credit card have 13 Million customer's on their books, as they speak about this number with great authority?
   Of course, they do not have 13 Million customers on their books - MBNA credit cards are the biggest credit card in the UK, having around 7 Million customers - blowing Sainsbury's out of the proverbial water.

Why the BBC and others in the media continue to peddle these non stories, is anyone's guess. They are not based on fact, they are based on nothing more than vague guessing and opinions of self proclaimed "experts" - who have a vested interest in growing their business and making more profits.
How many more, vested interest stories are we all being fed by the media?