SHOP!

Welcome to the page where we'll let you in on the numbers, the facts and all the other stuff we bet you didn't know or, we feel, you should know. Become the dinner-party Doctor of Shopping that we know you are!

SA is a consumer society. In November last year, the Reserve Bank reported that the money spent on personal credit cards had reached a record high of R18bn - in that September alone, the amount grew by R1bn!

Did you know?

87,7% of buying decisions in South Africa are made by women (as if we didn't know!); and in 82% of households, the woman is the main shopper

There are more than 2,4m women working full-time in the formal sector – more than 3,6m if you add in women who work part-time. Of these, about 2/3 are between the ages of 25 and 44

In 3 months in 2004, women bought 2,85 million pairs of shoes for themselves (or something over 3,5 million if you include sports shoes). (Now that's what we're talking about – after all, you can't only have one pair of boots made for walking…)

Women also shopped for the family in their spare time: children got 2,8 million pairs of shoes; and men got just over three quarters of a million pairs.

There are more than a million female credit card holders (around 1 in 5) in South Africa, and nearly a quarter of a million of them use that plastic once a week or more. A further 18% have either a debit card or a charge card.

In 2004, 671 000 women bought a new car for themselves – and a further 935 000 got a new one paid for by a husband.

There are 4,2 million women in SA using cellphones every day. Less than a quarter of a million – just 266 000 – say they use those phones for emergency only. For the rest, they're a primary tool.

Around 2,4 million women in SA use blushers and highlighter; 3,5 million use eye make up, 4,9 million use nail varnish, and 5,4 million use lipsticks.

In the last 12 months, there have been 8,7 million items of lingerie bought in this country.