According to Forbes, Corporate Gifting is a $242 B dollar industry. The industry has seen a substantial amount of growth in the past couple of years and the growth of this industry is only expected to continue.
Let’s take a look at what this $242 B dollar industry consists of, what the current market looks like, some interesting trends and statistics, and what the future of the corporate gifting industry holds.
The Global Corporate Gift Market
As many companies have moved to a virtual format, spending on corporate gifting has skyrocketed. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global corporate gifting market was estimated to be at $125 billion. In 2019, the corporate gifting market jumped to $217 billion. Currently, the market has risen to be a $242 billion industry, which is expected to swell above $3 billion within the next two years.
The rapid growth of the corporate gifting market is largely due to the remote work trend. Globally, 16% of companies are fully remote as of 2022. And in the United States, over 4.7 million people work from home at least half the time. Additionally, the number of workers that made the choice to work remotely in 2022 increased by 24% since 2021.
It is clear that a large number of individuals in the workforce are working remotely. According to a study done by Coresight, the increase in remote work is directly linked to the increase in corporate gifting spending. The increase in the remote workforce has increased the importance of thoughtful gifts. This is why companies are putting more money towards company swag ideas now than in previous years.
The Coresight study found that companies are also increasing their corporate gifting budget as a result of the pandemic. Most companies spent between $25 and $125 on per corporate gift. The largest subset from this group spent between $75 and $100.
Let’s take a look at how corporate gifting budgets are being spent.
Merchandise
Merchandise, which includes corporate swag, apparel, and other branded products, make up a fair amount of corporate gifting The Coresight study mentioned above surveyed 300 corporate gift-givers. Of those surveyed, 27% give apparel as a corporate gift and 42% of survey respondents give everyday branded products as a corporate gift. Corporate swag kits have also seen an increase in popularity for corporate gifting as they can conveniently be sent to remote workers.
Electronics and Other Similar Products
Another category in corporate gifting is electronics. This could include tablets, computer accessories, smart devices, and other electronics. Electronics aren’t among the most popular corporate gifts, with only 28% of survey respondents stating that they gift electronics.
Gifts Cards
Gift cards are one of the most popular corporate gifts. The survey found that 51% of respondents give either physical or digital gift cards as corporate gifts. The same research found that gift cards make up 37% of all corporate gifts. Though this number could decrease as the corporate gifting industry grows. This is due to the fact that corporate gifting is now being used to create connections with virtual workers as well as express thoughtfulness to those employees.
The Snack Industry: An Insight Into Our First-Hand Researched Data
A rapidly growing sector of the corporate gifting industry is the snack industry. Gift baskets have seen an uptick in popularity after the pandemic sent a large amount of the workforce to work remotely. Food has remained one of the most frequently gifted gift basket items.
Consumer and corporate food gift sales reached $33 billion in 2021. This same report also found that 67% of consumers had purchased food gifts for others during this time. The popularity of food gifting is reflected not just in consumer gifting, but in corporate gifting as well.
According to the Coresight survey, 46% of respondents reported gifting food-based gift baskets. 36% of respondents reported gifting edibles, which include cookies, cakes, and other desserts or dishes.
According to our curated data, published on CPG Pulse, cookies, candies, and chocolate are among the most popular subcategories of food for corporate gifting.
The Correlation Between Remote Work and Corporate Gifting Industry
We’ve established that the growth of the corporate gifting industry is likely a result of the growth in remote work in the aftermath of the pandemic. But let’s take a deeper look into these trends and statistics to predict how the corporate gifting and snack industry will continue to grow.
Coresight’s research shows us that 61% of corporate gift buyers cited changing their working model, to either hybrid or fully remote, since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Of that 61% of corporate gift buyers, 61% said that they expect their corporate gift buying to increase as a direct result.
Working with these numbers, it’s clear that over half of the companies (surveyed) expect to increase their corporate gifting budget as a result of their new work model.
Knowing this, let’s take a look at how work models are expected to change in the next few years.
For starters, it’s estimated that 70+ million U.S. workers can do their job while working remotely. Yet recent statistics reveal that only 27.6 million workers work remotely. This means there is room for at least 40 million jobs to transition from in-person to remote. While there is no data proving that this will happen, it’s an interesting statistic to keep in mind when considering the future growth of remote work, both globally and in the United States.
Furthermore, 90% of 70 million employees say they don’t want to come back to the office full time. Other data from this same study shows us that prior to the pandemic, only 40% of employees wanted to work either fully remote or hybrid. But as of June 2022, 78% of employees would prefer to be fully remote or hybrid.
This means that if employees aren’t getting the flexibility for remote work at their current job, they could look elsewhere. If companies want to retain employees, they’ll have to make changes — such as adapting a remote or hybrid work model.
This means that the amount of remote workers will likely continue to increase in the coming years. And as remote work increases, so will the corporate gifting industry.
And as the snack industry makes up a large percentage of the corporate gifting industry, this industry will likely increase along with it.
A Look at the Future of Corporate Gifting in the Snack Industry
The current market trends of the corporate gifting and snack industry are all important to consider when looking at the future of corporate gifting in the snack industry.
Our statistics above proved that corporate gifting and snack gifting in the corporate realm have increased as a result of the pandemic sending many companies remote. Though much of “normalcy” has returned since the beginning of the pandemic, people are still working from home. In fact, the number of remote workers has steadily been increasing, as we mentioned in the statistics earlier.
This means that the corporate gifting industry will continue to grow as companies continue to retain employees that are remote. Since food gift baskets and edible items make up a large amount of the corporate gifting industry, the snack industry in the corporate gifting realm is also likely to continue to grow.
The charts above are an excellent representation of just how much the snack industry has grown in just two years. If this growth rate continues, then the future of the snack industry in corporate gifting looks bright.
Market Dynamics
The aftermath of the pandemic has paved the way for the corporate and snack gifting industry to thrive.
We know that the growth of the corporate gifting industry is correlated with the growth of remote work. Experts predict that there will be 36.2 million Americans working remotely by 2025. This is a 417% increase from the number of remote workers pre-pandemic.
At this rate, the corporate gifting market will likely continue to increase. Coresight predicts that the industry will reach $306 billion by 2024.
It will be interesting to see how these numbers play out in the aftermath of the pandemic. If the predictions that the growth of remote work will increase are accurate, then the growth of the corporate gifting industry will also see a lot of steam.
To keep up with how the snack gifting industry is performing in the market at any given time, you can access our snack data.
Gifting Industry Trends of 2020
- Popular business gift-giving occasions – 51% holiday, 27% employee recruiting, milestone, appreciation, and 34% customer appreciation.
- An average professional received five gifts from business organizations and two among them were gift boxes or baskets.
- Gift cards were among the most common gifts sent in 2020, followed by gift baskets.
- Twice as many individuals found gift baskets or boxes memorable compared to charitable donations and other resorts.
- Personalization became the leading component in gifting strategies because maximum individuals wanted a gift option that aligned with their values.
- Gifts given back to the environment, or the community became popular options among the senders.
- Gifts that promoted family time and resonated with the recipients were deemed memorable.
- eGifting and virtual gift offerings became popular during the shift to remote work amid the pandemic situation.
Gifting Industry Trends of 2021
- The demand for custom corporate gifts, branded gift boxes, and swag packs increased with more hybrid workforces and distribution teams.
- Eco-friendly products and packaging were among the top choices of the senders and recipients.
- Small businesses and locally made products aimed to make a difference in society and gained momentum during this time.
- The recipients got empowered with a choice of a collection of items to help improve the corporate gifting experiences. The process also laid the foundation for future best practices among organizations.
- Increased focus on gifts and kits that supported virtual events.
- Corporate and consumer goods gift sales witnessed a growth of $33 billion.
Gifting Industry Trends of 2022
- Corporate gifts curating to the interests of the recipients became increasingly popular. It attributes to the market growing 400% over the five years, with the total industry revenue hitting $77B by 2022.
- Sustainable gifting continues to get prioritized among senders and recipients.
- Self-care gifts and WFH packages were among the top corporate gift idea for employees, followed by company swag and gift cards.
- Tech products like wireless headphones, Bluetooth speakers, Ui mugs, etc., became the corporate gifting trend in 2022.
- Curated brand items and gift boxes were among the popular corporate gifting ideas for clients.
- Here are the major takeaway statistics from corporate gifting reports over the years.
- 94% believe personal relationships are synonymous with receiving success.
- 89% believe that business gifts are bringing individuals closer to one another.
- 83% believe that business gifts generate positive ROIs for organizations.
- Corporate gifts have satisfied C-suites compared to other demographics.
- Spa, food, wine, Gift cards, and co-branded items are among the most popular categories of preferred corporate gifts.
- The most acceptable price range for spending on corporate gifts is $50-150.
- 45% of millennials like sharing gifts on social media compared to the boomers.
Corporate Gifting Challenges
Coresight’s research also brought up a few potential concerns that corporate gift buyers expressed.
According to the survey concerns for managing corporate gifting include:
- Inability to purchase gifts from multiple brands/retailers (33% of survey respondents)
- Limited choice attributes such as color and size (32% of survey respondents)
- Managing gift inventory, storage and shipping (30% of survey respondents)
- Limited range of products (28% of survey respondents)
Corporate gifting companies are working to solve this problem by offering gifts from multiple brands, a variety of choices, effective supply chain management solutions and a vast range of products.
Gift basket companies and other corporate gifting companies that have the means to distribute to remote workers, will likely be the future of the growth in the corporate gifting industry.
The research we compile at https://www.cpgpulse.com is working to optimize the corporate gifting industry — specifically the snack and food gift basket sector.
