While shoppers may decide to opening their wallets a little wider this holiday season, they’re still interested in getting a bargain.

But just what constitutes a deal seems to differ sharply when it comes to gender. The research found that men and women have varying wish list priorities, although gift cards and money top both lists.

According to Discover, Mars and Venus shoppers are ...

* setting a limit, and checking it twice: 53% of women have set a budget for the holiday season and plan to spend $885 dollars, on average. Men expect to spend about two thirds of that.

* spending more on their children: Twice as many women, 56% compared to 28%, will spend the most on their children.

Although it seems that most of the deals on group buying sites are for spa or nail services, they’re no denying their popularity. There are over 100 sites in Canada and over 50 aggregators at last count.

While not everybody signs up, 49 per cent of us have at least visited a daily deal site, according to a recent survey by OneSpout, one of the many services that aggregates deals, filters them and summarises the most likely to appeal to you in a single e-mail.  

Of those who bought, 40 per cent say they like group buying because it allows them to try out a product or service they wouldn’t consider at regular price.

At the same time though, roughly three quarters of us admit to signing up for deals that we weren't really looking for. The top of the list: 2 for 1 restaurant deals, it seems.  

So, are you really saving money when you jump on a Groupon or TeamBuy, or are you simply giving in to impulse shopping that has long plagued Costco shoppers?