Twenga, the most comprehensive shopping search engine, has asked internet users what they would do with Christmas gifts they don’t want. The results show that only 49% of British consumers would keep such presents. This compares with 78% of the French, 68% of the Spanish and 63% of the Italians.

Importantly, 25% of British and German users are willing to use auction and marketplace sites to sell on gifts they don’t like. This is in contrast with southern Europe, where 13% of the French and a mere 7% of the Spanish do the same thing. Do the British act out of thriftiness? Certainly not, as shown by the fact that they are also the most likely in Europe to give such gifts to charity.

Bastien Duclaux, Managing Director of Twenga, said: “The British and Germans are not afraid to sell on gifts they are unhappy with because they are pragmatic. They are leading a general change in attitudes, as shown by the strong growth of auction and marketplace sites. It’s only a matter of time before southern Europeans adopt this approach.”

What do you do with Christmas presents that you don’t like?

Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, President and Director General of marketplace site PriceMinister confirmed, “Selling on a present you don’t like is becoming a more acceptable way of getting a gift that you will get more use from, while still respecting the kindness of the gift giver. Each year, Europeans are gradually moving towards the pragmatic behavior shown by northern European countries. It’s the thought that counts, not the object itself. So why not sell it on for something more suitable?”

Methodology
Is the recession over, or will it still affect Christmas spending this year? To answer this question, Twenga, conducted its Annual Christmas Spending Survey, asking some 3,000 European internet users what their budget would be for the festive period and how they intend to spend it. The research was done online by Novametrie for Twenga on a representative sample of 3,027 Europeans in France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands between 6 and 13 October 2009.

Founded in 2006 by Bastien Duclaux and Cedric Anes, Twenga runs 13 sites, including the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, Russia, the United States and Australia displaying nearly 160 million offerings from more than 70,000 online shops. In August 2009, Twenga sites received over 21 million visits.