Planning for Corporate Gift Giving Starts Now!

Let’s get something straight right from the start - there is little or no difference between Corporate Gifting, specialty advertising, promotional products media and promotional marketing. All are essentially marketing exercises designed to build relationships between a giver and a recipient. People that present themselves as specialists in Corporate Gifting have good reason to try to keep this channel as an exclusive!

Prior to the Covid pandemic, corporate gifting world wide stood at about $125 billion. Currently that total is projected to top $242 billion this year. The expectation is that by 2025 the total will top $300 billion, according to Forbes. Obviously this is a substantial growth area. US corporate gifting in 2023 is expected to be about $80 billion, more than 3 times what the promotional products channel is expected to produce.

With a price (investment) target of $50 to $150 for each gift this year, corporate gifting compares favorably with other media. For example, 2023 saw the average cost to create a “click” on a website at $1.16. That cost is the same regardless of how long someone stays on the site, if they have any interest or simply arrived there by mistake. With a response rate of 3% for online marketing, that calculates to $39 per positive response. And - that is for a single ad impression! Internet ad programs can run from $1250 to $10,000 per month with the cost per click varying depending  on total response. 

By contrast, the ability to target appropriate recipients of corporate gifts and the huge number of ad impressions a single gift will produce, the return on investment for corporate gifting is generally quick and long lasting. 

A study by Coresight found that as a result of the continued growth of home workers, internal corporate gifting budgets are increasing. Keeping staff engaged when working outside of the office is critical to best performance. While traditional promotional products such as mugs, pens and mouse pads help make home offices a bit more business oriented, gifts (apparel, earbuds, food, recreation & fitness equipment, etc.) increase the feeling of belonging and boost employee engagement.

The current US unemployment rate is a low 3.6% which makes keeping employees more important than in the past. When the Labor-Force Participation rate of just 62.65% (percentage of people that are capable of working but choose not to) is considered, having long-term employees may be the only way to keep businesses growing or staying in business altogether.  The cost to find, hire and train a single employee can easily cost more than a gift program for the entire staff that might have retained the previous employee. 

Talk to your clients now so they can have their gifts for the holidays (and beyond) in place early. That will ensure that the desired merchandise is available, lower prices are locked in, competition is locked out and mistakes that rushing can cause are prevented.  

Keep in mind that as prices per item increase, minimums generally decrease. A client with a $10 budget for their gifts for most of their customers might consider something more suitable for their top 10 or 20 accounts -with your advice. 

While it must be noted that a very large part of the corporate gift market is sold by retailers, corporate sales divisions of branded products and online sellers, the majority do not have the ability to coordinate client logo application, custom packaging, drop shipping or insertion of marketing and/or greeting literature. 

Don’t neglect to do your own holiday gift planning now as well. The gift you give is a strong demonstration for your client to experience the fun of receiving. Since you have the benefit of wholesale pricing - your investment for your top customers/clients will surely be well worth it.