News just in: to find the perfect gift for their loved ones, Brits walk the equivalent of a marathon, and make an average of a whopping 11 trips to the shops. Wow, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

So it's perhaps good news that UK high street retailer The Works have just announced that all 250 of their stores are now stocking the ultimate stocking filler: The Skype Starter Kit.

Apparently the Starter Kit began life over in Taiwan, where they have candy packs which come in similar packaging, and was a phenomenal success there and so was rolled out across the globe. They contain everything you need to get going with Skype: an earbud with microphone, the Skype software and a voucher for free SkypeOut credit to call friends and family on a regular phone.

They're also certainly a good retail earner for stores like The Works, taking up very little space and at £2.99 or two for a fiver offering a neat impulse buy for, amongst others, the 250,000 British men who wait until Christmas Eve to buy all their presents (word to the wise here chaps: it's on a Sunday this year so at least head for the 23rd to avoid the mother of all retail scrums).

To find your nearest The Works store, check out the store locator here. And remember: nothing says you love her as much as a bunch of carnations from the petrol station on the A4.