Key Takeaways

• The US market size for personal gifting is estimated at $1.18 trillion (2021).
• The US market size for corporate gifting is valued at $242 billion in 2021. 
• Corporate gifting accounts for 17% of the total US gifting market.

Introduction

Corporate Gifting Market Size

• According to insights from Coresight Research, the US corporate gifting market is projected to reach $242 billion by the end of 2021. 
• It is expected that the market will reach $306 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 8.1%. 
• It has also been reported that the frequency of gifting corporate gifts is increasing, with 58% respondents giving more often since the pandemic.
•  Gift cards, both physical and digital, was the most purchased corporate gifts in the last 12 months.

Personal Gifting Market Size

• Inc. states that overall, the gifting market in the US is worth $131.3 billion, the bulk of which is spent online. With 17% in corporate gifting, the remaining 83% can be considered as personal gifting. Hence, the market can be valued at $109 billion ($131.3*.83).
• The above statistic is from an older source and recent figures for the market size of personal gifting was not available. Therefore, we will attempt to estimate the value using data from the above findings. Assuming that the $242 billion in corporate gift giving accounts for 17% of the overall gift market, the remaining 83% of the personal gifting market can be calculated as $1.18 trillion ($242/.17*.83).
• To validate this we will consider the following. If we assume that the quarterly consumer spending in the US is 13 trillion, this amount to around $52 trillion annually (13*4). According to Investopedia, 2.2% of consumer spending is on gifts. This means that the market size for gifting will exceed $1 trillion ($52*2.2%).

Other Findings

• Inc. has reported that, for every $10 spent by Americans, $1 is spent buying someone a gift.
• According to IBIS World, the gift shops & card stores industry in the US was valued at $14 billion in 2020, which was a decrease of 31.3% compared to the previous year. This was due to the reduced demand following travel restrictions, health concerns and event cancellations during the COVID-19.
• The gift card market in the US was estimated at $278.8 billion in 2020, which is a 26.9% share of the global market.
• Retail spending on food gifts in the US amounted to $21.8 billion in 2020, out of which $15.95 came from consumer food gifting and the remaining $5.85 billion from corporate gifting.
•  $19 billion is spent annually buying presents at wedding gift registries in the US. More than 91% of American couples register for wedding gifts.
• According to Technavio, the personalized gift market will reach $2.01 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 5.83%. 
• Based on National Retail Federation (NRF) statistics, the average yearly spending on Christmas gifts during 2016-2020 was $629. 
• The COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in a slight drop of 1.3% in the average holiday gift spending (2019: $659, and 2020:$650). While it isn't a significant drop, there is a clear distinction compared to the previous years which showed a gradual annual increase.