When it comes to gifts, Paige Cohen, senior editor of Harvard Business Review, admits to a deep dive into product personalization. Here’s how she opened a story about her obsession with giving people gifts:
"In the fall of 2018, I spent the majority of December cooped up inside my apartment, hand-painting Bitmojis of my coworkers onto wine glasses. I baked them in the oven to ensure they would be dishwasher safe and wrapped them in glossy gold paper. A few days before people left for vacation, I snuck into the office around 6 am, and like an elf, I placed the gifts on their desks and waited."
Cohen went on to explore the psychology and implications of her gift-giving habit, but a different issue struck us about intensive DIY personalization – some of the ecommerce companies One World Direct (OWD) partners with produce the same joyful impact effortlessly through the product personalization OWD offers as part of the order fulfillment process.
Personalizing products you give as special occasion, holiday, and Christmas gifts provides a double dose of dopamine for loved ones and special people in your life. It’s like exponentially boosting that warm fuzzy feeling.
Here’s what we mean.
In a University of Arizona Q&A about the psychology and neuroscience behind giving and receiving gifts, Jessica Andrews-Hanna, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, explains that the “warm glow of giving” is a theory suggesting that when we give a gift, “it leaves a warm fuzzy feeling in ourselves that persists over time and creates a glow of kindness about us.”
When that gift is thoughtfully personalized, the warm fuzzy feeling gets squared, maybe even cubed — to put it in math terms.
The why underlying the wow factor is easy to understand, as product personalization is an easy way to show a recipient you genuinely care for them and invested time, energy, and resources in choosing the perfect gift.
And who doesn’t want to stand out as a thoughtful gift-giver?
Once viewed by many as a check-the-box task, gift giving has been elevated into an art form, a trend encouraged by social media and options for unboxing embellishments, and in the process it empowers enlightened gift-givers to experience a sense of validation that derives from their thoughtfulness.
Fortunately, easy access to a wealth of products available online has made bespoke gift-giving easier than ever – and these days there’s a tip-the-needle extra favored by gift-giving pros that takes both the giving and receiving to another level.
It’s product personalization.
Personalization, when combined with perfectly chosen gifts, alchemizes gift-giving into an art form.
Town & Country Magazine gets it. The recent story, 52 Gift Ideas for the Kid Who Has Everything, recommends personalized activity books and personalized crayons in shapes that spell out a child’s name.
So, in the season of giving, why does this matter to brands and e-tailers?
The National Retail Foundation reported that core retail sales during the 2023 holiday season grew 3.8 percent over 2022 to a record $964.4 billion, despite inflation and high interest rates. Sales for the full year grew 3.6% over 2022 to a record $5.13 trillion.
Ecommerce companies’ slice of that pie only stands to get bigger with personalization incorporated into the gift-giving process.
A few points in the McKinsey & Company State of the Consumer 2024 report stand out for consideration as part of this discussion.
Young consumers in emerging markets have a desire for premium products and will look for higher-priced brands and retailers, according to the report whose results come from more than 15,000 consumers surveyed in 18 markets that together make up 90 percent of global GDP.
This parallels an existing trend of consumers paying more for a brand that provides product personalization, which makes offering personalization for premium products a perfect equation for standing out from the competition.
Older consumers are spending, too. “High-income Baby Boomer and Silent Generation consumers (those whose household incomes exceed $100,000) are a sizable cohort in the United States, making up 30 percent of the market – and they’re more likely to spend on discretionary purchases … ,” McKinsey & Company says in the report.
Product personalization tailored to appeal to older consumers is a particular sweet spot for retailers, as consumers with considerable life experience tend to favor products with a long shelf life after purchase – especially when given as a special occasion or holiday gift.
Seeing an embroidered quarter-zip on a loved one every year at the holidays brings joy – and that reward affirms the value of personalized products and premium products, while encouraging the savvy shopping and spending to continue.
Here’s the shocker (in a good way) from the McKinsey & Company report: Despite inflation and cost of living increases putting pressure on middle-income consumers, “they plan to splurge on discretionary items at a rate that is comparable with that of high-income consumers.” These folks seem to be saying, “Life is challenging, we need to reward ourselves and those we care about when we make purchases.”
Moreover, the report says that middle-income consumers are only slightly more inclined than wealthy consumers to delay purchases – and not much more likely to trade down when making purchases.
The mood of the moment for consumers is brand exploration, and while seeking out premium products and experiences, consumers also want value – two more positives for e-tailers who see the advantages of product personalization.
When you offer an extra like personalization that heightens the appeal of products, a brand explorer looking for differentiation will find you – and when they run your product through their personal value matrix, you’ll come out on top because personalized products are cherished and kept, which increases the value quotient, while also enhancing personal relationships between gift givers and recipients, which is “priceless,” as they say.
And then there’s a less tangible, but no less valuable, aspect of giving personalized products as holiday gifts and gifts for other special occasions. When friends or colleagues turn the conversation at a social gathering toward the wisdom of giving experiences rather than things, a discerning gift-giver can share how product personalization transforms carefully chosen gifts into the equivalent of experiences because the deep emotional resonance these gifts create transports both giver and receiver to a higher plane.
“We all share the excitement of anticipating what’s inside festively wrapped packages for the holidays and other special occasions. When you open them up to find something that could only be for you, that’s magical,” said One World Co-Founder and CEO Thomas Unterseher.f
One World Direct integrates product personalization (P2C) into the fulfillment process for its clients. We create tailored website plug-ins that offer personalization options as part of the e-commerce experience, and then carry out the personalization in OWD warehouses.
Current options include laser engraving, embroidering, direct-to-object printing, and customized greeting cards. The range of materials OWD can work with extends from paper, wood, glass and plastics to fabrics, leather, rubber, metal, and beyond.
To learn more about OWD’s product personalization and how it can help your brand achieve greater success, head to our website to start a chat or schedule a call.
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