Gifting experiences in the UK - Thought Piece from our Intern Euan:
Consumers are increasingly overwhelmed by the incredible amount of gifts we buy each other every year. QWERTY Beer Box is witnessing a customer shift towards more meaningful gifts and experiences which they're looking to build upon. Now in 2021, with the internet at our fingertips, some believe gifting is easier than ever before, would you agree?
Key Events:
Events such as Christmas, Birthdays, Father's Day and Mother's Day are at the forefront of all of our minds and these events have been celebrated for what feels live forever.
Physical gifts are becoming less popular - unnecessary clutter in an already messy world. There is huge consumer demand for experience gifts such as music events and craft beer tastings sessions.
Beer Box Gifts:
Beer box gifts are one of the most important emerging products within this dynamic gifting industry due to their clear, experience orientated nature. Craft beer, from hoppy pale ales to authentic lagers are also growing in popularity.
QWERTY Beer Box offers local selections of the best beers around and massively benefits local independent brewers. They’re able to reach new customers across the country and get more feedback on their tasty pints. Over the last year we have seen incredible strength from the craft communities in supporting their local breweries and this is another impressive reason why so many cracking breweries continue to brew today.
Gifting Online
93% of all gifting experiences begin with a search engine. Salience published a report on the gift sector in 2020 and found that there is much higher demand for gifts for close loved ones in 2020 vs 2019. For example, search engine volume for ‘mum christmas gifts’ has increased by 197%. There is also huge demand for personalised gifts, with search engine volume up over 75% for search terms such as ‘personalised christmas ornaments’. This shows that we are trying harder to give gifts with meaning and bring us closer.
There are also a number of phrases that receive very high monthly search volume. For instance ‘gifts for men’ receive upwards of 130,000 searches a month, firstly, showing that men are very difficult to buy for, but secondly, that there is a huge demand for mens gifts. Other key phrases that appear to be very popular in the online gifting market include ‘christmas gifts’, ‘gifts for him’, ‘christmas gift ideas’ and ‘gifts for him’ showing that QWERTY Beer Box are certainly marketing themselves in the right place!
This Christmas:
The big question is how this Christmas 2021 season will compare to the last. COVID-19 continues to cause significant mental, physical and financial stress and meant gifting will not been at the forefront of people’s minds. Will people continue to send independent craft beer selections and tasting experiences to friends and family? Or will they favour the good old pair of socks? Who knows? But it's going to be exciting!