The beginning of January is the period when, at the start of a new year, we at Gift Baskets Overseas sit to analyze data from last year and especially the holiday season. The main reason for this activity is to understand changing demands and needs of businesses using gifts as part of their marketing and sales initiatives. This year, our business analytics spotted three clear trends that we decided to share with you. I am sure that knowing these corporate gift trends will benefit your own prognosis and planning in 2022.
Corporate Gift Trends 2022: What to Expect
Now that we are approaching the second anniversary of Covid19 being declared a pandemic and repetitive restriction measures put in place around the world, business has officially changed forever. This includes gifts as well, both as a tool for building relationships with customers and international teams, and as a tool that marketing and sales teams are using to improve financial results.
The change is not always for the worse. Businesses going online in the past twenty months discovered new opportunities. Now, it’s time to build on them. Let’s explore!
Events Still Online
A survey by Third Door Media conducted among international marketing professionals showed that event attendees’ confidence in going in-person in 2022 shrank again after some improvement in the warm period of 2021. Probably, it’s time for us to admit: online events are here to stay. While in many aspects this signals more agility and scalability, it’s often harder to make event experience stand out when all you have is yet another conference call room.
Last year, our corporate gifting experts registered an enormous growth of customer interest in online event gifts with precise customization and delivery options. What does this mean? The ability to deliver gifts highly targeted to the exact type of experience you aim to create for attendees and on time to complement the conversation. This technique allowed for better attendee-to-customer conversion, greater client satisfaction, and noticeable growth of positive sentiment accompanying recall of the event experience among attendees who participated in post-surveys.
Let’s think about the experience you want your customers or prospects to have when attending your event. Maybe even let’s start with the experience you would like to have for yourself when attending a brand event! For sure, it should include something personal, arriving exactly when the situation calls for this, making sure you make the most out of your time. If a business can arrange a gift basket with item selection for you, you will recall this event with pleasure.
Personalization is a Must
Now that we are on the topic of special selections, last year was a year of custom requests when it comes to corporate gifts. In the past, personalization was something nice-to-have in the corporate gifting experience. Now, your prospects and customers expect this from you by default. Requests for custom arrangements of corporate wine, liquor, healthy, and gourmet gifts grew over 130% in twelve months. They constituted more than 30% of overall international gift deliveries in 2021*.
What does this mean for you and your business? When you try to establish a connection between your brand and a potential customer, it is no longer enough to send a branded pen and a notebook. (Basically, just like it is no longer enough to send a one-size-fits-all email to all of your contacts!) Custom selection means a gift that will match your prospect’s interests, previous relations with your company, and stage in the funnel. That’s what they expect from your relation-building efforts.
The next level of customization you can achieve when inviting your recipients to select the gifts for themselves. It’s easy to achieve with Gift Baskets Overseas solutions such as E-Gift Campaigns and Request Tools. You can either let them pick from a variety of gifts you pre-selected, or set a budget for the certificate. Read more on our blog or watch a quick video explaining these features:
*deliveries of corporate and individual gifts by Gift Baskets Overseas and its family of brands
Purpose Driven Marketing
Purpose and values become imperative in marketing and business development. In her 10 Truths About Marketing After the Pandemic article for Harvard Business Review, Janet Balis, who leads EY’s consulting professionals in the Americas focused on the customer agenda and revenue growth, said:
New truth: Your brand should stand behind great values.
The pandemic truly challenged brand loyalty. The EY Future Consumer Index found that up to 61% of consumers, depending on the category, became willing to consider a white label product, let alone switch name brands.
This is something worth considering when reaching out to them with gifts as well. It’s not sufficient to just send something, you need to make sure that you are doing this ethically. No less important to know what causes your corporate buying supports, and what the businesses you cooperate with stand for.
Gift Baskets Overseas works with local small gift and flower delivery shops in developing countries. This allows not only for a local delivery that minimizes transportation miles and carbon footprint. This also helps them grow and develop instead of taking this business outside of the country of delivery. When sending your gift internationally with us, it will only travel a minimal amount of miles and help local businesses.
Now That You Know Corporate Gift Trends 2022: What’s Next
Trying to put this to practice? Consider the following action steps:
- – Select Virtual Event Gifts
- – Explore customized gift baskets
- – Learn more about corporate gifting solutions Gift Baskets Overseas offers
We are wishing you all the best in 2022!
Director of Digital Marketing and Strategy for GiftBasketsOverseas passionate about all-things digital, travel, and wellness. Natasha covers some corporate topics and data analytics and research for the GiftBasketsOverseas blog.