CE products popular for group gifting

Special Feature: Photo gifts

Consumer electronics are among the most popular products for ‘group gifting’, which has become increasingly popular with both men and women.

Nearly eight in 10 people have group gifted in the past (83% women and 75% men), and approximately half of those have group gifted more than once and expect to do so during holiday seasons, according to a survey carried out by Samsung in the US.

According to the ‘Get It Together’ survey, group gifting is the act of consumers jointly contributing money with friends or family to purchase a gift together for someone else.

The survey showed that the most popular reasons for group gifting was to either buy a gift of greater value that people can’t afford on their own or to collaborate with friends and family to get something the person really wants.

The categories of gifts most often purchased jointly were baby products (26%), and consumer electronics (23%). Travel (6%) and home appliances (5%) were also cited by survey respondents. The survey showed that nearly 60% of people would prefer to receive one or two more expensive gifts than several moderately priced gifts. There were also clear gender gaps in several answers, including data that nearly twice as many men favoured group gifting consumer electronics compared to women.

Other results showed the most popular occasions in which people choose to group gift including: birthdays (42%), baby showers (37%), winter holidays (31%)  and weddings/engagements (30%).

More than two-thirds of consumers who group gift do it for their immediate family, while a smaller number of people pool resources for gifts to their co-workers, bosses, close friends and extended family members.

As for group gifting trends by income class, the study showed: 84% of people earning more than US$75,000 have group gifted in the past compared to just 71% of people earning less than US$30,000, showing that high earners are perhaps more likely to pull greater resources to purchase premium gifts for friends and family.

The ‘Get It Together’ consumer survey was conducted for Samsung Electronics America by TNS and polled 1000 online consumers in June 2009.