The Japanese get Board Games and the French books for Christmas: But the Poor Spanish Get… Socks
The British spend an average £109 on gifts sent overseas. But what are we sending, and which country gets the best presents? International courier ParcelHero reveals what’s likely to be in different country’s stockings.
We Brits spend an average of £115 on gifts overseas; but what are we sending where? The international parcel broker ParcelHero delivers almost as many presents as a certain S. Claus at this time of year: with Australia, the US and Canada being its top destinations beyond the UK. Says ParcelHero’s Head of Public Relations, David Jinks: ‘It really is fascinating to see what are the most popular items sent to different countries. For example people in Germany and New Zealand must love chocolate, it’s far the most popular gift to those countries, and Canada and Australia have an equally sweet tooth, their most frequent present is sweets!’
Continues David: ‘Ireland’s most popular presents are toys, as are Hong Kong’s. The Japanese clearly like a break from their games consoles sometimes, as their most popular presents are good old fashioned board games – with Monopoly having the , well, monopoly.’
Adds David: ‘Those intellectual French receive the most books from us, and American’s clearly have a soft spot for traditional British jumpers. However, Spain must be the global equivalent of your poor old Dad. The most common gift sent to the Spanish is, yes, socks.’
David observes: ‘It’s also interesting to see how much we spend on people in each country. We spend a whopping £156 on average on gifts to Hong Kong, and £145 to Australia, which must add up to a lot of sweets, looking at their most popular present! Oddly we are a bit meaner with our US friends and relations: spending an average of just £88. That could be down to the fact you have to pay tax and duties on gifts above $100 sent into the US. However, of all our regular destinations, it is the poor Belgians who received the lowest value gifts proportionately, with an average value of less than £50.’
Concludes David: ‘One surprising fact is that 12% of gifts sent beyond the EU arrived too late for Christmas Day because they got stuck in Customs. That’s why ParcelHero has introduced a new Christmas mailing page to make people aware of gift duties to every country and final sending dates. We do urge people to have a look at it, because while the Spanish may not be truly overjoyed at receiving socks, it’s much worse to receive nothing at all on the day!’
For more information please contact David Jinks, Head of PR, on david@parcelhero.com or by phone on 0208 7584962 (07772 055748 out of office hours)
Leading international online courier ParcelHero® strategically partners with the world's leading logistics companies, including DHL, UPS and DPD, to provide a flexible, cost-effective range of parcel delivery services to over 220 countries worldwide. Huge bulk purchasing power allows ParcelHero® to offer highly competitive pricing with no compromise in service quality.
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