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Journalism of Courage
In the world of hi-tech gadgetry, you no longer need to keep up with the Joneses but the Patels.
Analysis of buying behaviour among people with common surnames has found that those called Patel are most likely to own must-have gadgets.
Based on 12 months of sales figures for a range of the latest digital goods, Patels topped the chart, spending an average of £ 2,315.40 on high-tech gadgets.
The second surname was Wilson, with Hughes the third.
Although Jones, the second most common surname, trailed at 16th, way behind the Browns, Taylors and Smiths.
Patel is one of the most common surnames in Britain’s Asian community. A large number of them live in Leicester, where they migrated after being ousted from Idi Amin’s Uganda in the early 1970s.
The Patel community has since flourished in various fields, including cricket. In Leicestershire, cricket matches are often held between teams whose all members have Patel as the surname.
Pixmania.com, an online electronic retailer, which carried out the high-tech gadgets consumer survey, said: “Keeping up with the Joneses is a well-known phrase but Patels and Wilsons beat the Joneses hands down.”
Other families fall short of the Patels because they buy only some of the top end products in the list or pick cheaper versions.
“The Patels will settle only for an iPod. Other groups are much more likely to opt for a cheaper mp3 player,” Pixmania.com added.
“The Patels will often buy a Nintendo Wii and a PlayStation 3 but other families are more likely to fork out for just one of them.”
