January 07th, 2011

Christmas is over, and as the nation wallows in new appliances received as gifts, spare a thought for the lowly bread maker, Britain’s least used gift appliance. Latest research from Mintel reveals that as many as 36% of all consumers who received a bread maker as a gift, admit they hardly ever use this appliance. Meanwhile, sandwich toasters (28%) and coffee makers/percolators (28%) make up the remaining top three least used appliance gifts.

Richard Caines, Senior Retail Analyst at Mintel, said:

“While a popular gift idea, this latest research shows that an enormous number of appliances are barely used. The risk of not checking that a person actually wants a particular item is clear from the number of appliances that are owned but hardly ever used that were received as gifts.”

Overall, while the household goods sector was hit hard by the economic downturn and recession, small kitchen appliances have performed well. Over the last five years, the value of the market has whizzed up a mouth watering 11%, increasing from