The Gifting Market includes a broad range of products and services purchased for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, holidays, festivals, personal milestones, corporate occasions and other celebrations. Major gifting categories include personalized products, flowers, chocolates, confectionery, jewelry, beauty products, toys, fashion accessories, home décor, gift baskets, experiences and gift cards. The market is served through specialty stores, department stores, supermarkets, direct-to-consumer websites, online marketplaces and mobile commerce platforms.

What is the Gifting Market?

The Gifting Market comprises products, services and retail experience that is purchased for someone else rather than for oneself. The market consists of different categories such as flowers, chocolate, confectionery, jewelry, fashion accessories, beauty care products, toys, home décor products, customized products, greeting cards, gift baskets, electronics, experiences and gift cards.

Unlike any conventional product category, the Gifting Market is greatly motivated by the occasion and relationship surrounding the purchase. For example, a customer may purchase jewelry on a wedding day, flowers on an anniversary, toys on a birthday or even corporate merchandise for an event involving employees. Gift card purchase is also done where there is uncertainty regarding the preferences of the recipient.

Why do people buy gifts?

Gifting is essentially a means of communicating appreciation, affection, celebration, recognition or simply socializing. There are recurrent purchases made at various milestones and events like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, holidays, festivals, graduations, arrival of babies and so forth.

Gifting is not just about purchasing from family and friends; businesses also purchase gifts for employees, customers, partners and other stakeholders.

Why is personalization significant in gifting?

Personalization ensures that the gift is distinguished from a typical retail purchase. Customers can choose names, dates, photographs, messages, colors, designs and other features to ensure that the gift is personalized and unique.

One of the best primary-company examples of this trend is Etsy. In its 2025 annual report, the company stated that around 30% of gross merchandise sales on Etsy marketplace were made up of custom or made-to-order merchandise. Etsy also noted that gifting, holidays and personal milestones were still significant occasions for purchasing products on its marketplace.

How is e-commerce transforming the Gifting Market?

E-commerce has greatly increased consumer options to find, compare and buy gifts. Online stores enable customers to search for products using different criteria such as the name of the person receiving the gift, occasions, price range, interests, age, relationship and product categories.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the total estimated retail e-commerce sales was $340.2 billion in Q2 of 2026, which was 17.1% of total U.S. retail sales during that quarter. E-commerce sales increased 12.2% compared to the second quarter of 2025.

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