Gifting news and trends

1-800-FLOWERS.COM Buys SmartGift to Expand Gifting Capabilities
Retail // May 02, 2023

1-800-FLOWERS.COM has acquired SmartGift to expand its consumer and corporate gifting capabilities. The acquisition will add the functionality of SmartGift’s intelligent gifting platform to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM’s family of brands focused on providing gifts, the companies said on Tuesday (May 2).  “With the addition of SmartGift, Inc. to the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. portfolio,...

Final-Mile Delivery Developments Heat up, Just in Time for Winter Gifting Season 
Delivery // October 07, 2021

Winter gifting season kicks off next month with Black Friday on Nov. 26 and Cyber Monday on Nov. 29, and there’s a growing sense that last-mile delivery experiences will be more decisive this year in terms of meeting shoppers’ expectations — or falling short — as seen...

Survey: Half Of US Shoppers Prefer ‘Experience Gifts’ To Material Items
Retail // December 15, 2019

Some disavow clutter; others enjoy simplicity. Either way, more Americans are said to be holding a quiet position against materialism. More consumers are creating their own gifts, opting for experiences, gifting and receiving used goods, asking for charitable contributions, or asking for nothing during the...

Apple In-App Gifting Could Be Coming Soon
Apple // December 21, 2018

Changes to Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines have shown that the company will soon allow iOS users to gift in-app purchases. “Apps may enable gifting of items that are eligible for in-app purchase to others. Such gifts may only be refunded to the original purchaser...

Interviews & Exclusives
The Gift Of Better Giving

November 24, 2017
Giving good gifts is hard work. It’s also expensive. According to Deloitte’s 2017 holiday spending survey, the average American consumer will spend $1,226 over the holiday shopping season, approximately $430 of which will be spent on around 14 gifts. That is, unless that consumer happens to be a member of a household bringing in more than $100,000 per year — in which […]

How Retailers Can Reclaim A Month’s Worth Of Lost Sales

April 24, 2017
Retailers say they lose out to Amazon for many reasons. One of them is their inability to enable last minute gifting. Loop Commerce CEO Roy Erez tells Karen Webster how...

Valentine’s Day Gifting By The Numbers

February 20, 2017
Didn’t get what you wanted on Valentine’s Day? Then, according to Loop Commerce, surprisingly, you are among the mere 12 percent of consumers who received a gift and decided they...

Inside The Retail eGift Card Fail

October 18, 2016
What can be easier than giving a gift card online? How about getting consumers to buy them in the first place. In the latest PYMNTS Data Drivers installment, Gerry Gilbert,...

Quick Reads
1-800-FLOWERS.COM Buys SmartGift to Expand Gifting Capabilities

May 02, 2023
1-800-FLOWERS.COM has acquired SmartGift to expand its consumer and corporate gifting capabilities. The acquisition will add the functionality of SmartGift’s intelligent gifting platform to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM’s family of brands focused on providing gifts, the companies said on Tuesday (May 2).  “With the addition of SmartGift, Inc. to the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. portfolio, we are continuing to expand and innovate our gifting capabilities, […]

Survey: Half Of US Shoppers Prefer ‘Experience Gifts’ To Material Items

December 15, 2019
Some disavow clutter; others enjoy simplicity. Either way, more Americans are said to be holding a quiet position against materialism. More consumers are creating their own gifts, opting for experiences,...

Apple In-App Gifting Could Be Coming Soon

December 21, 2018
Changes to Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines have shown that the company will soon allow iOS users to gift in-app purchases. “Apps may enable gifting of items that are eligible...

Amazon And CVS Leverage Pinterest’s Secret Santa Toolset

November 22, 2017
In an attempt to make it even easier to get the right gift this holiday shopping season, Pinterest has announced news of a personalized Secret Santa gifting tool designed to...