EASTER is a Major Gifting Holiday

Stevens, PA  April 2, 2004—Easter Sunday and Passover are gaining in importance as a gift-giving and decorating holidays. While purchase incidence of Easter gifts trails that of other spring holidays, Easter/Passover gifts are bought by nearly 40 percent of consumers, according to new research conducted by Unity Marketing (www.unitymarketing.com) among 950 gift givers who spend $250 buying gifts throughout the year. Spending on Easter gifts tops $100 for a typical Easter gift list of four people.

"Overall Easter is the third most widely ‘gifted’ spring holiday, trailing St. Valentine’s Day celebrated with a gift by 70 percent of gifters and Mother’s Day when 74 percent of gifts give a gift,” explains Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need. “Among seniors, 65 plus, Easter is a favorite holiday to celebrate with a gift. Seniors’ gift purchase incidence is relatively low for all other secular holidays, but remains strong for this most religious of holidays.”

Besides gifts, Easter is also an important decorating occasion, with decoration sales reaching nearly $500 million, in 2002, up 13 percent over 2001. “Easter represents a time of renewal and optimism. It’s just natural consumers want to spend their time and a little money on decorations for spring,” Danziger says.

“For retailers and marketers, Easter and Passover celebrations give people justification to shop for gifts, decorations, plants and greenery,” says Danziger. “But while retailers generally focus on holiday gifting, year-round, day-in, day-out gift marketing opportunities are often overlooked. Gifting holidays account for just over half of the gifters’ $2,062 budget, leaving the rest available throughout the year for occasion-driven gift-giving like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, housewarming and new babies.”

"Gifting represents a rare exponential marketing opportunity where you can touch two target markets directly, the gift buyer and the recipient. For retailers, gifting has the advantages and promotional power of sampling and word-of-mouth, but it magnifies that power. Retailers need a gifting strategy to take advantage of its relationship potential, not just at the holidays, but throughout the year.”

Unity Marketing’s new study, Gifting Report: The Who, What, Where, How Much and Why of Gift Giving & Shopping, presents an experiential research perspective of the gifting market. Combining qualitative and quantitative research, it reveals gift giving incidence and spending throughout the year, including seven major gifting holidays and 12 gifting occasions (e.g. birthdays, anniversary, wedding, friendship, etc.). The key attributes of a good gift are presented, as are the types of stores gifters prefer and why. How people choose across the range of gifting options is explored, including gift certificates and cash, home furnishings, entertainment, apparel, gifts of experience, etc. Finally the personalities of three types of gift givers with different gift giving and buying motivations are explored.

For more information about the study, follow this link , or visit Unity Marketing Online.

Contacts:

For more information, contact Pam Danziger, 717-336-1600; pam@unitymarketingonline.com 

To arrange an interview or other media inquiries, contact Len Stein, Visibility, 914-712-2610; lens@visibilitypr.com