Who ever said shopping was easy?

Is price your top concern when shopping for clothes or food? Are you tired of waiting in check-out lines? Do you find the best deals at Wal-Mart and Target rather than on the web or at outlet malls? These are just some of the findings of a new survey conducted for ShopSmart magazine by Consumer Reports National Research Center, offering an insider’s look at women’s shopping tactics and trends. ShopSmart, a new shopping magazine about products consumers use every day, hits newsstands nationwide August 1, with a distribution of 800,000 copies.

The ShopSmart Opinion Poll reveals:

— Most (76%) of American women agree they enjoy shopping and the average woman spends 7.4 hours per week (or 385 hours annually) shopping. Shopping does have its travails. One-third say the most stressful part is waiting in check out lines followed closely by interacting with salespeople (29%).

— Women agreed that getting the best price was the most important thing to them (87%) and only one out of four would rather save time than save money.

— Overall, 95 percent of women purchased a common non-grocery product or service over the past three months. The most popular item was clothing (77 percent), followed by shoes (58 percent), cosmetics (56 percent), and vitamins or supplements (52 percent).

Where Women Find the Best Bargains

As the primary shoppers for their families, a majority of American women find the best bargains at discount department stores like Wal-Mart and Target (57 percent). Many fewer felt that the best deals were to be had on the Web (17 percent), and even lower for outlet stores/malls (11 percent), other discount stores (9 percent) like T.J Maxx or Marshalls, and big-box stores (8 percent) like Costco or Sam’s Club.

When scoping out sales, women find it easiest to determine if they are getting the best deals with groceries (87 percent), clothing (84 percent) and shoes (82 percent). Registering the least ease: travel (56 percent), insurance (49 percent), cars (42 percent), and auto repair (38 percent).

Spending Trends in Shopping

While price is an important consideration with shopping, price is least important when purchasing lingerie (56 percent), sporting goods (55 percent), auto repair (53 percent), vitamins or supplements (53 percent), and cosmetics (51 percent).

However, a significant number of women said that price is key when purchasing clothing/groceries (72 percent); travel (70 percent); and house wares/small appliances (69 percent).

Wary about outside shopping advice, shoppers rely mostly on friends and family (45 percent) as trusted sources for shopping and products to avoid buyer’s remorse. The least trusted sources of shopping advice were sales people (39 percent) and advertising (31%).