The Thought That Counts When It Comes to Gift Giving

It's often said that it's the thought that counts when gift-giving. While consumers often buy gifts for friends and family members, they also like to treat themselves.

In fact, one in three consumers admit to buying themselves gifts as a way to celebrate personal victories such as graduations or new jobs and big life events like weddings/engagements.

Gift-Giving Motivations

While many studies uncover motivations behind gift giving (Sherry 1983; Sherry and McGrath 1989; Wolfinbarger 1990), a relatively few attempts have been made to develop and test measures for specific individual differences in these motivations. The current study focuses on a conceptual scheme that differs from previous work in that it separates gift-giving motives into three distinct attitudes, experiential/positive, obligated, and practical. It is proposed that these polar ends of an attitudinal continuum may shape various dimensions of gift-giving behavior that are relevant to consumer research, such as information search, monetary and time resource allocation, criteria for decision making, and selection of the gift.

Experiential/positive gift givers give gifts because they enjoy selecting and giving them and perceive that it enhances their relationship with the receiver. Typical examples include gifts given during the holiday season, on Valentine's Day, or as an expression of friendship and love. This type of giving is emphasized in the popular press where articles are typically published every gift-giving season.

The obligated gift givers give gifts to fulfill an obligation that they feel to the receiver (to reciprocate or because of social norms). Obligated gift givers are generally less enthusiastic about and more likely to be disappointed in their giving than those motivated by experiential/positive motives.

The practical gift givers give gifts to supply useful assistance to the recipient. The rationale for this type of giving is usually related to a specific life event, such as a birthday or anniversary, but also extends to other rites of passage, such as weddings and funerals. It is suggested that this gift-giving motive reflects the more utilitarian goals of traditional societies. It is predicted that these givers will be more willing to spend time and money on their giving, and will place greater emphasis on the quality of the chosen gift than obligated and ambiguous gift-givers. This prediction was borne out in the results, as the most utilitarian and practical gifts were also the most expensive. It was also found that income level and education influenced practicality of gift giving. Those with lower incomes and less education were more likely to express this preference.

Gift-Recipient Motivations

Many consumers have been observed to spend time and money buying gifts for friends and family. Purchasing gifts for loved ones can be an enjoyable and satisfying experience for those individuals who are motivated by a desire to communicate positive emotions and sentiments through the act of gifting. For other individuals, the motivation to purchase a gift may be driven by a need for affirmation from others, a desire to enhance one's own image or a socially imposed obligation. A variety of research studies have indicated that gift giving is a highly significant behavioral activity in consumer markets and that there are many aspects to the practice that merit investigation.

A number of scholars have posited that consumers who are motivated to give gifts can be classified as either altruistic or agonistic. Altruistic gift givers are those who seek to maximize the satisfaction of their gift recipient counterparts, while agonistic gift givers are those who seek to gain resources from the other party (e.g., a parent buying a child a Christmas present that the child would otherwise not have received). A more ambivalent and uncertain position exists for some individuals, as they are simultaneously influenced by both altruistic and agonistic motives (e.g., a husband wanting to demonstrate his love for his wife through the purchase of a concert ticket, which his wife would otherwise have had no access to).

The purpose of this study is to investigate gift-giving motivations and to develop an instrument which can be used to measure these motivating factors. Forty-one attitudinal items were extracted from existing gift-giving literature and from three previous questionnaires relating to gift-giving behavior. The resulting scales were found to be reliable and valid for measuring experiential, obligated and practical gift-giving attitudes.

The findings from this study indicate that the primary motivator for gift purchasing habits is a desire to communicate positive emotions or feelings. Other motivators include a need for affirmation, a desire to enhance one's image and a desire to obtain resources from the gift-recipient counterpart. The results from this study also indicate that those who are obligated to buy gifts will be more likely to select practical or utilitarian items than those who give gifts voluntarily. This finding is consistent with the notion that hedonic and utilitarian motives are not necessarily at opposite ends of an attitudinal continuum, as suggested by Sherry (1983).

Gift-Selection Process

A gift can jump-start a customer-brand relationship, but it is not without risks. Aside from the financial costs, gifts may trigger emotional responses that influence a consumer’s search and purchase behaviors. In addition, the extent to which a gift-giving act falls on the obligatory/voluntary continuum also influences many aspects of the process. This paper examines the different factors that influence the search and gift selection process, post-purchase behavior and gift-recipient satisfaction levels, and how they differ across gender, gift-giving motivations and relationship type.

Using a web-based experiment, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of gender, gift-giving motivations and relationship types on consumers’ search and gift selection processes. Subjects were 90 graduate and undergraduate students from a large southeastern university. Despite their student status, they appeared to be genuine consumers and had purchased products from numerous retailers before.

In Study 1, subjects ranked-ordered gift certificates for nine targets (5 male, 4 female) of varying age. Each target had indicated their preference for a specific store ahead of time. Participants were presented with a picture, the name and age of the target as well as a list of ten stores. Participants were then asked to imagine that they were buying a gift for the target and rated each store according to how suitable it would be to buy the target a product from. Interpersonal sensitivity was measured with the IRI and again with the AQ, this time using the original 4-point scale.

The results showed that consumers in the voluntary versus obligation motive condition spent more time assessing their gift-selection options, visited more stores, and selected more expensive items than did consumers in the obligatory motive condition. Moreover, the quality of the gift-selected item was significantly higher in the voluntary versus the obligation motive condition. The effect of gender was moderated by interpersonal sensitivity. Specifically, women were better at selecting the right gift for a woman than were men at selecting the right gift for a man.

Taking into account that the majority of gift exchanges take place in female-female dyads, it is likely that the reason why women are considered better gift givers than men is that they know more about what other women want than do men. This hypothesis is consistent with prior research on preference prediction where predictions for similar others are more accurate than predictions for dissimilar others.

Post-Purchase Behavior

Post-purchase behavior is all of the little actions and decisions your customer makes after they buy a product. This can include everything from interacting with your brand on social media to writing reviews and telling their friends about your products. The goal of post-purchase behavior is to make your customers happy and help you market your brand in the long run. In a recent podcast episode of The WooCommerce Show, Joey Coleman cited research that shows that 20-70% of customers leave a brand within the first 100 days after purchase. Understanding the motivations behind gift purchasing and the role that post-purchase behaviors play is one of the best ways to keep your existing customers and win new ones.

As we move into the holiday season, many people are shopping for gifts for the important relationships in their lives. According to a recent study from Etsy, searches for personalized or custom gifts have increased by 156% this year as people look for unique and meaningful presents to give. In the past, people have typically searched for gifts for kids, but this year, they are also searching for gifts for parents and grandparents.

When it comes to giving gifts, consumers tend to spend more when they shop with a purpose. They are more likely to browse multiple retailers and are more likely to convert once they find a site that meets their needs. These shoppers are also more likely to visit gift idea reseller sites and search for creative products that might not be available in your own store.

Consumers who buy gifts with a purpose are also more likely to interact with the brands that they buy from and to recommend them to their friends. This is a great way to build loyalty and trust, which will result in repeat business and referrals.

To encourage post-purchase behavior, you need to meet and exceed customer expectations. To do this, you need to provide a product that is on-brand and offers the features and benefits your target audience wants. In addition, you should use tools to help your customers feel confident in their purchase. For example, you can use virtual dressing rooms and detailed measurements to ensure that your product is the right fit for their needs. You can also reduce the risk of return by offering a generous and convenient exchange policy.