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For Gifts and Collectibles Marketers, Retailers and Investors...

Fewer Consumers Chose 'Giftables' as Presents for Christmas 2006

'Giftables' marketers need to discover new ways to make their products more gift appealing

Stevens, PA February 20, 2007 - Shoppers turned away from popular 'giftables' categories like flowers and plants, figurines, collectibles, stationery, seasonal decorations and other popular gift-type items sold in specialty gift stores as Christmas gifts this past holiday season. The percentage of shoppers who made a giftables purchase in the fourth quarter 2006 dropped 8 percentage points, the steepest decline measured in Unity Marketing's Gift Tracker survey in 4Q2006 as compared with fourth quarter 2005 results.

Only one product in the giftables category - candles and candle accessories - ranked among the top ten gift choices in the fourth quarter 2006.

More gifters chose consumable and entertainment items as gifts for Christmas 2006

While giftables lost favor as a popular gifting choice, two categories increased in popularity for fourth quarter gifting. Gifts of consumables, such as chocolate, gourmet food, gift baskets, wine and spirits and others, were the fastest growing gift category, as measured by gift purchase incidence, followed by entertainment and recreational choices, such as videos/DVDs, books, audio/CDs, electronic games and electronic equipment. Both of these categories - consumables and entertainment products - are highly experiential types of gifts, giving the recipient pleasure and enjoyment.

Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the new book Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, says, "All of Christmas 2006's top gift choices were highly experiential for the recipient. That is, they were more than just a material item that was a token of affection or esteem. This past year's most popular holiday gifts delivered an experience to the recipient, whether it was the enjoyment of a popular film for home viewing, the pleasure of bath and body lotions, the indulgence of a box of chocolates, the warmth of a new cashmere sweater, the glow of a candle or the fun of a new electronic game."

In order to reverse the trend away from giftables as a favorite gift choice, Pam Danziger says giftables marketers and retailers need to look to enhancing the experiences that their products and their shopping environments deliver. "Giftables marketers have historically focused most of their efforts toward designing and development new products. But that isn't good enough anymore to reverse the tide away from giftables as a gift choice. They need to understand the experiences that consumers want to deliver when shopping for a gift, then transform their businesses around those experiences. Consumer research is the best way to discover what those experiences are," Danziger says.

Unity Marketing Plans a New Consumer Insight Study of the Giftables Consumers

Unity Marketing, a research firm that has been on the forefront of market research about the gifting consumer, proposes to conduct a new consumer insights research study to help companies that manufacture and market giftables, especially those that sell their goods through specialty gift stores and retailers, to understand the new experiential dynamics in the consumer marketplace.

This research study will focus on recent consumers of giftables and those who regularly and frequently shop in specialty gift stores. This research will examine both specific giftable product buyers, their product and brand preferences (the actual product categories to be included in this giftable study will be determined by the companies that participate as sponsors in this research) and shoppers who enjoy the shopping experience in gift stores.

This two-pronged research approach will provide giftables marketers and retailers insights into how to transform their products into an experience for the gift giver and recipient and how to enhance the shopping environment in specialty gift stores.

Research Sponsors Needed

Unity Marketing will undertake this research initiative for a select group of forward-thinking giftable manufacturers and marketers, as well as retailers that need to find a new path for success in the changing giftables market. The research will focus specifically on the needs, desires and passions of giftables consumers, as well as those customers who enjoy shopping in specialty gift stores.

Giftable manufacturers and marketers, specialty gift retailers, national retail chains that seek to expand their market for giftables, including internet and direct marketers, and advertising agencies and sales representative firms that support giftables marketers and retailers will benefit from the new insights into the giftables consumers' and the gift store shoppers' mindset.

Through consumer research, including focus groups and a quantitative survey, sponsors will tap into the psychology of people who buy giftables in order to understand their drives, motivations and passions for these products. They will also learn about the kind of shoppers who enjoy the gift store shopping experience in order to help them and their retailing partners attract more of these types of customers to their store.

The insight gathered will help research sponsors discover new marketing opportunities for their products and ideas about increasing distribution through traditional and non-traditional means.

Visit http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_gifting/gifting/insight_07.php to learn more about the research investigation planned and to request more information about participating in the study. Or call Pam Danziger directly at 717-336-1600.

For giftables marketers and retailers unfamiliar with the ways to use consumer research to transform their businesses, Pam Danziger has prepared a profile of how Coach, the leading brand in luxury fashion accessories, used consumer insights to guide their entire business strategy. A copy of the Coach Corporate Profile can be downloaded by visiting http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing
Pamela N. Danziger is a nationally recognized expert specializing in consumer insights, especially for marketers and retailers that sell luxury goods and experiences to the masses or the �classes.' She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.

Advising such clients as Cartier, PPR, R�my Amerique, Stearns & Foster, Waterford/Wedgwood, Prudential Fine Homes, Ritz Carlton, The World Gold Council, The Conference Board and American Express, Danziger taps consumer psychology to help clients navigate and master the changing luxury consumer marketplace.

Her latest book is Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, published by Kaplan Publishing in October 2006. Her other books include Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses-as well as the Classes, (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $27, hardcover) and Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

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