Trends in Gifting – The Rise of Personal Choice

When it comes to successful corporate gift campaigns, being current is key. The 2022 holiday gift season shows a clear shift in the trends in gifting. Giftsenda and Gift Baskets Overseas have put together key data to help you and your team stay ahead of gifting trends in 2023. While the holiday season is still six months away, corporate gifts are something your company should invest in year-round.

The trends in gifting shown during the 2022 season will help you make the most of every gift you send this year. Continue reading to get insider tips on what gift baskets reigned supreme and what gifts recipients chose when given the chance.

Trends in Gifting – The Rise of Build Your Own Basket

Every year starting in October our Corporate Gift Experts are kept busy with corporate holiday gift campaigns. Thousands of orders come in from companies all over the world. They test the limits of our ability to deliver to over 200 countries worldwide – and we’re happy to deliver. Every year after the season, we take a look at the gifts we delivered during the peak holiday season. After all, we’re in the business of staying on top of the gifts customers and recipients really want.

This year a clear rising star of gifts emerged – Build Your Own Gift Baskets. Capturing over 13% of our holiday sales, these custom gift baskets proved that the demand for them is on the rise. We took a deep dive into just why custom gift baskets gained so much popularity this season. The overwhelming majority of customers remarked on just how personal a gift becomes when you pick everything inside of it.

This desire to be more personal makes sense. It’s become a daily contest for companies to make deeper connections with customers, employees, and business partners alike. It’s no longer enough to simply send a gift, you need to send a gift that stands out. With custom gifts, you’re in the driver’s seat of everything that’s included. It creates an opportunity for you to show off just how much you know about your recipient’s preferences. Or, tell them a bit about your own tastes by recommending fine wines or gourmet goodies for them to try.

Trends in Gifting – What Do Recipients Pick

This year, thanks to Giftsenda’s unique Senda features, we have access to data that speaks to what recipients really want from companies. One of the many perks of the service is that companies can allow recipients to choose their own gifts. Either from a pre-selected set of gifts or from gifts within a predetermined budget.

This chart shows a breakdown of 793 recipients, and what they selected when given the choice. Of all the trends in gifting, seeing the trends shown by recipient data is some of the most valuable. We’ll take a moment to break down each of these categories, in order of popularity. Discussing why they are popular, the kinds of gifts selected, and recommended use cases.

Tech Gifts – 37.1%

Tech gifts are clearly the most desired items by recipients. Which seems obvious with our increasingly tech rich lifestyle and workspace. The most sought after in this category, were headphones or earbuds. These gifts are ideal for employee appreciation gifts, since they are improvements for their work and home life. Additionally, they make for excellent incentives for webinar or other online event attendance.

Alcohol Gifts -19.4%

The recipient data here clearly shows that recipients enjoy receiving alcohol gifts. And our generous corporate customers at Gift Baskets Overseas agree. Wine, beer, champagne, and liquor gifts have long made up over 20% of gifts purchased during the holiday season. When it comes to trends in gifting, alcohol gifts hold up throughout the ages. Perfect for celebrating promotions, closing deals, or simply showing your appreciation, alcohol gifts remain a versatile and beloved gift.

Leisure Gifts – 14%

If there’s one thing everyone in the business world understands, it’s the need to unwind. It makes sense then that when given a choice, recipients will frequently lean toward items that help them unwind. The items recipients preferred include, candles, yoga mats, and gym accessories. These items make for excellent employee reward and appreciation items. Additionally, they go well in grab bags and care packages for long-standing business partners and clients.

Accessory Gifts – 12%

Recipients that chose accessory gifts leaned toward practical items for their homes and office spaces. Items such as these can be very symbolic of long-standing commitments and practicality. Used as employee appreciation gifts, accessory gifts can be a clear demonstration of the mutual investment that goes on between outstanding employers and their employees.

Wellness Gifts – 9%

Many of the most successful MVPs in the business world take great pride in their overall health. It’s no wonder that wellness gifts are ranked 5 on recipient popularity. In this regard, recipients and corporate gift campaign managers agree – spa gifts are the number one wellness gift to send and receive.  

Trends in Gifting – Make it Personal

Whatever you do with this information, keep in mind that your next gift campaign should be your most personal yet. With months before the holiday season, you have time to make some key adjustments in the way you think about gifts. A great investment would be to update your employee and business partner information with a section about the kind of gifts they like to receive. Asking your employees and business partners about their favorite snacks, wine, drinks, self-care items, and so on, can arm you with the information you need to send outstanding gifts. If you don’t have time for that, then we recommend you use our Address Request Service, which can empower your recipients to select the gifts they’d like for themselves.

You’ve read about recent trends in gifting, what next?

• – Get in touch with a Corporate Gift Expert to plan your next gift campaign.
• – Take a peek at our blog on Corporate Gifting Tools 2023.
• – Subscribe to our blog to get more corporate gift tips and ideas.