Well, I am happy to help you find an answer to that question! Because based on years of experience and after a recent in-house analysis of more than 100.000 gift orders, I have filtered out for you three important trends.
1. Gifts in line with company values
More and more companies consciously opt for end-of-year gifts that are aligned with their company values and/or culture.For this year, specifically, we noticed a rise in orders of gift concepts that are linked to health and vitality.
Because I thought you might be interested in seeing an example of one of our more popular gift sets, I have here above included a picture of our “Going Nuts Energy Set”, which is composed of a careful selection of organic nuts. Giving your employees and/or customers one of these beautiful sets can help you highlight the importance of healthy snacking and the ways in which it might contribute to overall well-being. Eating nuts increases energy levels, decreases the chances of developing cardiovascular disease and has a positive impact on the functioning of our brains. Furthermore, this assortment of organic nuts begs to be shared, so it also invites people to engage in indispensable social interactions! You can find this “Going Nuts Energy Set” in online gift stores, starting from € 35.
2. Freedom of choice always does the trick
In line with the popular strategy of diversity management, more and more companies these days opt for a concept that allows the recipient to choose his or her own favourite gift. And this makes perfect sense: not only is our society becoming increasingly multicultural, there is clearly also an increase in recipients wanting to book an exciting experience for themselves, follow an online personal development course or donate to charitable causes.Which brings us to another way in which this diversity of needs can be met: a Christmas Basket! A company that decides to give their employees and/or customers one of these end-of-year baskets wants to touch the hearts of the recipient’s entire family. Because the more exciting the experience that is created by giving one of these special baskets, the more this gift concept will have had a positive impact on their employer brand. And a Christmas Basket, filled with wonderful surprises, is the perfect example hereof. Because the bigger the element of surprise, the longer the gift in question will be a hot topic of conversation. That is also why many a company is giving up on the traditional idea of a plain gift voucher!
3. To measure is to know
Companies opting for gift vouchers are more and more interested in gaining an insight into the extent to which their recipients redeem their vouchers. That way, unredeemed vouchers can – for example – be given a second life by being donated to a charitable cause. And also questionnaires gathering information on how recipients look back on their gift experience are gaining in popularity.Whatever you do, it is important that your message is sincere and well thought out. Only in this way can you really connect with your employees or customers in a world where complacency and indifference tend to dominate.
Nathalie Arteel
Leading Angel Arteel Group
Recognition Expert
