Giving someone a gift is an act of thoughtfulness that happens beyond the bounds of Christmas or birthdays. It seems like a new reason to celebrate somebody else crops up every month.
Sweetest Day, push presents, and “just because” are now on the list of gifting occasions, and with every extra giftable moment tacked onto the calendar, your shoppers have more reasons to head to your store to buy those perfect presents.
This surge of gift giving isn’t because we’re all suddenly philanthropic folks with unlimited funds, but it’s more a result of these extra reasons (or no reasons) to brighten someone’s day.
According to psychologist Chris Gray, gifting is important both economically and emotionally. He says it’s a “lasting expression of care” connecting people for the long haul, and the want to do just that is growing.
Personal gifting is a market bigger than $100 billion (and that may be a conservative estimate), and the global gifting market is expected to surpass $8 trillion by 2027. The U.S. corporate gifting market eats up $300 billion on its own, and there’s no slump predicted for this trend anytime soon.
Not only are people buying more gifts, but they’re also on the hunt for better gifts. In a consumer survey, nearly half of consumers said that “they were likely to buy fewer but better things” when looking for the perfect present. That often translates to spending more, especially since the survey also suggested that consumers believe gifts should be meaningful and communicate to the recipient that they’re a valued pal, family member, coworker, and more.
It’s clear that consumer behaviors have shifted toward a more intentional giving spirit, so now what?
As a smart ecommerce entrepreneur, it’s time to find ways to tap into this trend and encourage your customers to make your store their favorite gift shop for every occasion, big or small, for one or tons.
But how can you position your products as thoughtful gifts? And beyond that, how can you leverage gifting as a key growth channel for your store?
Here’s how any brand with giftable goods can get ahead and make an easy, enjoyable gifting experience for customers right on their site.
How to Position Your Products as the Perfect Gifts for Any Occasion
Gifting has been an overlooked and undervalued customer experience since the dawn of ecommerce. Most often, when someone searches for a gift online, they’re met with a bumpy journey full of hassles, like getting addresses from recipients, coordinating a gift message, or even having to contact a company’s support team for any type of customization or for ordering more than one gift.
Too often, shoppers throw their hands up and settle for a digital gift card. Convenient, simple, and can be sent digitally, gift cards have become one of the few easily gifted items on the internet.
But “settling” isn’t what shoppers want to do when they give a gift today. People want to give meaningful, intentional gifts that show recipients they’re valued and cared about — not another impersonal gift card.
“Gifting is not just about expressing care for another person, but there is a lot of identity wrapped up in what someone gives to another person. It says something about you, that you are a thoughtful and caring person.”
— Chris Gray, Psy.D. of Buycology
As people start flooding the internet on their hunt for the Best Gift Ever, your brand has the perfect opportunity to showcase your store as the premier gifting destination. And the more shoppers associate your brand with gifting, the more they’ll come to your store first for any event.
But nailing this gift-centric positioning and taking a bite out of the gifting trend requires a couple key components.
First, you need to create an experience that helps shoppers see your brand as a shopping stop for meaningful presents. When you make it easy for your customers to buy gifts through your online store and provide them with a top-tier customer experience from gift selection to delivery, going to your store to send a gift becomes a no-brainer. After all, why would they choose a competitor where gifting is a Grade A struggle?
Next, you need to emphasize the relationships you build with gifters and gift recipients. Gifting introduces your store to new customers in an organic and authentic way. Gift recipients get to see, hold, and use your products, as well as learn about your brand (possibly for the first time) when they get your goods as a present.
Gifters and their recipients inherently have a unique experience with your store, so don’t lean on the same strategies you use for your typical customer. Instead, turn the post-gifting experience into one that’s personalized and memorable, triggering marketing messages that reward gifters, incentivize recipients to shop with you on their own, and celebrate more giftable moments for all.
Gifting has huge potential to attract new shoppers who are on the hunt for a great gift, retain shoppers and earn repeat purchases as the go-to gift shop, and make your brand synonymous with intentional gifting through post-gifting engagement. When you set up strategies that easily position your products as gifts, you’ll start earning more of the growing gifting market.
Gifting Isn’t Restricted to One Holiday Season, so Why Is Your Gift Marketing?
While we think of the Christmas holiday as the primary shopping season of the year — and for good reason — gift-giving opportunities occur all year round. Other holidays (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.), birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, new babies, and other special events happen pretty much every day of the year.
So, why do many brands just sink their gift marketing budget into Q4? Create an ecommerce marketing strategy that reminds your customers that you’re their stress-free and fun gift-giving destination year round.
According to Financial Impulse, the average gifter spends more than $100 on graduation gifts and as much as $400 to $600 on wedding gifts. Add to that birthday and anniversary shopping, and your opportunities for an ecommerce marketing strategy aimed at gift shoppers is virtually unlimited.
Convenience in gift giving is a priority for many shoppers. In a study by the National Retail Federation, nearly two-thirds of shoppers say they chose their retailers based on convenience, while just under half prioritized value as the deciding factor. This means that there are a fair number of shoppers out there who are willing to spend more for a stress-free customer experience that also ticks the boxes for thoughtfulness and care.
In addition, nearly half of younger consumers are digging up their gifting inspiration on social media, so putting the spotlight on both your great products as gifts and a slicker gifting experience could reap some serious ROI.
Add Zest to Your Store to Sell More Gifts All Year Long
If you’re feeling stressed about how to tackle positioning your products as gifts and making the experience frictionless so you can properly leverage this growing category, take a deep breath. Zest was built to help you out.
Before recently, gifting has been a massive struggle for both customers and the brand’s in-house team. For shoppers, gifting usually means sending items to their home, adding a card, packaging it up, and shipping it out to addresses they had to scrounge for (AND pay for shipping again).
For a company’s gifting team, if they have one, gifting looks like spreadsheets and phone calls and lengthy back-and-forth email threads. Processing gift orders, especially if they include any customizations, cards, or many recipients, takes weeks — and many gifters simply don’t have weeks to spare.
Zest was made to assuage those pain points and bring online gifting into the 21st century.
Whether your shoppers are looking for a self-service gifting catalog where they can buy one or hundreds of gifts for their corporate gifts, looking to send a single gift to their pal across the country, or are looking for a hands-on über custom concierge gift, Zest is the only platform that makes all of these experiences possible. Your brand is finally empowered to give people the online gifting experience they want instead of forcing everyone through a one-size-fits-all outdated experience.
With Zest in your tech stack, your online store opens up an entirely seamless way to purchase gifts:
- Tech-savvy shoppers can send gifts digitally via link and email.
- One or hundreds of gift recipients can be added to an order in seconds.
- Gifters can surprise and delight recipients without knowing a single address.
- Shoppers can quickly personalize gift notes for every recipient.
- Addresses automatically validate for error-free gifting.
In other words, gifters can be sending your products as gifts in just seconds. In and out, easy peasy, just as if they were shopping for themselves. It’s the upgrade gifting needed to meet modern ecommerce expectations — and there’s no going back.
Zest can make your customers’ gifting experience a positive one. The online gifting platform combines the flexibility and convenience of a gift card with the thoughtfulness and personal touch of a carefully chosen gift.
The memorable gifting experience doesn’t end there, though, as gift recipients are treated to opening their meaningful message from the sender and digitally unwrapping their gift — they can even jot down a thank you note and send it back to the gifter.
It’s a unique journey for everyone involved, and it sets ecommerce stores apart from competitors who aren’t prioritizing this growing channel.
So, now that you’re on your way to selling more products as gifts with a ridiculously seamless gifting experience directly on your website, the next step is leaning into gifting through your marketing and messaging with your audience.
Zest integrates with Klaviyo, the email marketing powerhouse for Shopify stores, so you’re free to fully leverage when gifters and gift recipients opt into your marketing during the gifting flow.
Not only will your email messaging be the key to letting your existing email list know about your new gifting super power, but it’s also how you can build intentional and engaging relationships with gifters and their recipients to turn your gift channel into your best acquisition channel.
Akin to how a personalized shopping experience is the new gold standard for DTC consumers, so too is a personalized gifting experience. When you can recognize and appreciate gifters for choosing your products to gift, the more likely they are to remember that and return to gift again. And that is how good gifting is done.
Take the First Step to Becoming the Go-to Online Gifting Destination
It’s clear that the online gifting biz is only going to keep growing. When you partner with Zest, you’re prioritizing your gifting experience and taking those first strategic steps to getting in on the trend and planting your flag as the ultimate gift destination.
Zest makes sending a gift from your online store a thoughtful and convenient choice for shoppers. Then, when your marketing and engagement calls out gifting and positions your store as a choice at any time of year for any occasion.
Prioritize your gifting strategy and before you know it, you’ll be selling more gifts and scaling this hot, hot channel for the long haul.
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