You have to feel sorry for advertisers really. They have to spend a fortune in getting their sales message across to us via a number of mediums and it still does not guarantee that we will buy their message or products.

What exactly makes us buy that colour sofa over that one, that size bed over that size etc?

The advertiser has a range of sofas to sell. They have a number of shops across the country in prime locations. They have good stock in place and at great prices. They have conducted a TV campaign to run from late December to late January. The TV campaign is slick and offers up to 60% off the sale price of many sofas. What more could consumers want?

I have digested the TV campaign, liked the look of the sofas on offer and realise that I can afford to treat myself to a new sofa in 2008. I park my car in the out-of-town car park and head towards the shop intent on making my purchase.

The shop is packed; the TV campaign has been successful in attracting the punters. I wander around for a few minutes and have settled on the sofa that is the right price and style for me. I start to look around for an assistant to help me.

Unfortunately, customers outnumber the assistants 2-1. I try and catch the eye of an assistant as he is walking around with a customer – he cannot acknowledge me as he is being asked all sorts of questions by the customer he is with.

I decide to come back on a quieter day. I get home, snuggle down in my old sofa and watch the telly. The TV sofa campaign is still trying to catch people’s eye. They have lost me as a customer as I have decided to save my money for a holiday.

If only shopping was a more pleasurable experience. Online shopping is popular now as you can buy your products without the hassle of going into overcrowded stores with too few able assistants.

I think there should be men only shops. Most men I know do not take a long time to shop. They know what they want and are happy for a quick ‘smash and grab’ shopping raid. What they cannot stand are the women with their bawling kids in pushchairs and the new ‘modern’ man out shopping with them.

Give us men a shop stocked with CD’s, DVD’s, shirts, trousers, socks, pants, gadgets, exciting electrical goods, a bar and coffee house, no women or kids and we will be in shopping heaven. What’s more, we will buy, ok? – No more need for the hard sell.