December 22, 2006
To Gift or Regift, That is the Question…
Are you a regifter? If yes, you are not alone.
According to a survey commissioned by Braun’s Tassimo Hot Beverage System, sixty percent of people between 25 and 34 reported they have regifted in the past and planned to do
so in the future. Nearly three-quarters say they regifted because they felt the item was perfect gift for the recipient. Thirty percent said they have regifted because they either
had too little money or time to buy a present themselves.
Of course, the act of regifting means a retailer is losing a sale somewhere.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, some analysts believe retailers are partly responsible for creating the situation.
The use of restocking fees and stricter return policies, the theory goes, has led to consumers hanging on to gifts they would have returned in the past. Instead, when the situation
arises for them to give a gift, they use the item(s) they have inventoried.
Discussion Questions: How pervasive is regifting and what does it mean for the retail business? Is there any way retailers can discourage the practice?
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I just heard this expression for the first time last week in NY. Not something I’ve done often, although I have had unwanted gifts that sit in the cupboard for years before heading to a charity shop. The day after hearing highly entertaining tales from my sister about being both regifter and regifted, she took me to a large Channukah party where I amused myself watching people decide whether they had been regifted or had been given something that would be regifted in future. It just made my day amongst a house full of strangers.
As I’ve said before, I don’t like the principle of gift cards and really think that if people are going to make the effort of giving then they should also give some thought. It’s too much hassle to return things and if you are the least bit interested in the person to whom you are giving, I am sure that most retailers can offer sufficient choice to come up with something that may just be suitable.
PS Best gift of the day was one where recipient was pressured to tell giver that he already had the item whereupon giver immediately took it back and promised to replace it with a gift card to a shop of the recipient’s choice. Done deal, a couple of red faces but a happy ending and at least the person getting the gift card was able to specify where it should be from.
Hey, this has been going on ever since man invented the fruitcake. There is one obvious cure and that is personalization. Kinda hard to regift when something has your initials on it. Retailers should find a way to offer personalization as a perk to their best customers. I can hear the pitch now… “Shop at Racy’s where you can buy Aunt Agnes a gift she will have to keep!” Merry Christmas!
Hmmmm. Retailers continue to become more restrictive in their return policies, and time-starved consumers are regifting. Any chance retailers can see a connection here? Retailers need to re-cast gift cards as the most thoughtful choice, not an easy way out for a lazy shopper. Add some romance, and voila! Regifting as we know it becomes much less prevalent.
Regifting is a great opportunity for retailers. The growth of regifting demonstrates that retailers are not doing a good job of matching the customer and recipient with the gift. Registeries serve this purpose, in part. Gift cards also fill part of the gap. The opportunity is to drive a better matching process. Personal shoppers, online registeries, and many other ideas I haven’t thought about are the ways to get past the “problem.” This is an opportunity for innovation, and one of the innovation opportunities that retailers often overlook.
Regifting is actually a gift to the retailer. What would happen if there was no regifting? The recipient would either try to return it, or keep it and be unsatisfied. The giver would probably know, and be unsatisfied with the choice of gift and by extension, the place it was purchased.
If the gift was returned, we all know the economics involved with returns. Apply seasonality and diminished value, and returns are costly investments in customer loyalty and service.
Please, regift it! Value continues to be generated, I don’t incur the costs of the return, and everyone wins.
I had never even heard of “regifting” until a few years ago, so clearly it is some evil Yankee concept. However, now introduced, I must admit I have found it quite useful. Let’s just say one of my new pet peeves is folks who don’t put a name on the gift bags when they attend the annual party. How do you know what’s safe to take back to their house when you go there?
As for the impact on retailers, they should encourage the practice! Regifting simply encourages more gifting. Think about it. You may have never taken a gift to Aunt Martha’s First Night dinner before. But when you spy that nifty pomegranate pulverizer sitting by the door on your way out, still in its pristine wrapping and sans gift tag, what are you gonna do? And then Aunt Martha is on the hook for a gift when she comes over for Yule log. And, utto, YOU are on the hook next year and forever after. Hey, we won’t always have a convenient ‘regift’ laying around, and then it will be off to Wal-Mart on the way to Aunt Martha’s next year. All habits that encourage more gifting will eventually benefit retail.
eBay thrives during the post holiday season according to an excerpt I saw on CNBC. This really isn’t regifting but it is an outlet for unappreciated gifts with no other home; also puts a little money in the pocket to help defray holiday costs. I really doubt that regifting cuts into retailer sales of products in a major way. At least not for the sales made prior to the actual holiday. It would seem that returns and exchanges would be more of a problem that would affect profitability.
It seems this is becoming a greater concern every year with the retail industry, with most companies looking for ways to reduce the issue.
It seems one of the main tactics is to push the idea of a gift card; this allows the receiving party to use the card to buy the product that they really want. Even to the point of McDonald’s…imagine receiving a McDonald’s gift card for Christmas…scary.
Other tactics have seen some online retailers offering services to aid the product purchasing decision. Usually issues occur when people buy late, impulse purchases, these tend to be way off the mark and lead to returns. Helping the customer make the right decision can see increased satisfaction for the receiver, hence keeping the gift.
Happy Holidays!
Regifting only happens when the original recipient gets something they don’t want and/or already have. Retailers are in a position to do something about this via personal shopping services that can help with gift selection and/or registries that can determine at least in part what a person really wants.
Another issue is that many members of the baby boomer generation (and older) already have more things than they know what to do with, which means too many gifts are really just money down the drain. And, there is so much gimmicky stuff being sold that may seem great to the giver but goes unwanted to the receiver.
Bottom line is retailers should be able to take the next step beyond loyalty data and work with their best customers, at least, to help them give gifts that will be better received.
I think retailers have created the problem themselves by flooding stores with all sorts of useless gift ideas. In the manic rush to find a gift, many people believe the hype and believe that the receiver will get the same thrill the giver got from the retail experience. Regifting is a symptom of the “more is more” consumer society we live in. Which is why I choose to exchange gifts only with a small circle of friends, all of whom know that if I can’t eat it, drink it or smoke it, I don’t want it.
My “learner’s permit” (first) wife and I, hitched in ’69, regifted wedding-gift fondue pots for years. We were regifters when regifting wasn’t cool (thank-you, Barbara Mandrell, who was “country” when country wasn’t cool). However, we always drew the line at regifting Christmas fruitcakes. (Some of our friends and relatives were “nutty as fruitcakes,” and we didn’t want to introduce the suggestion.)
A question: When women purchase expensive party gowns, wear them for one occasion while tucking all the paper-tags-on-plastic-Ts inside (ouch, ouch, ouch), and then return them with sweat stains the next day, are they regifting the retailer?
Regifting isn’t new. Only the word is relatively new. Retailers who sell gift cards help prevent regifting. Retailers with creative gift registries also help prevent regifting and returns. The same computer programs and procedures for wedding gifts can be used for Christmas, birthdays, graduations, etc. Yet many retailers don’t promote alternative uses for their wedding gift registries.
The answer to the Poll Question(s)———are Yes and Yes! Often times people believe they may know exactly what the other person needs or desires to have. It’s the well meaning intentions of the giver, or their desire to transform the giftee into someone or something they are not that is the catalyst for the Re-Gifting process.
A few years ago, I was the recipient of an ionic air purifier for use in the car. After my initial “shock and disappointment,” I thanked the giver and went my merry way. For those of you who don’t know me, I don’t smoke, brush my teeth 2X a day, shower and shave every day, and wear deodorant and after shave. I am not sure what air around me needs purifying.
This item was one of my first regifting items ever. Does anyone know where there is a Regifting Givers Anonymous chapter in Chicago?
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays!
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I just heard this expression for the first time last week in NY. Not something I’ve done often, although I have had unwanted gifts that sit in the cupboard for years before heading to a charity shop. The day after hearing highly entertaining tales from my sister about being both regifter and regifted, she took me to a large Channukah party where I amused myself watching people decide whether they had been regifted or had been given something that would be regifted in future. It just made my day amongst a house full of strangers.
As I’ve said before, I don’t like the principle of gift cards and really think that if people are going to make the effort of giving then they should also give some thought. It’s too much hassle to return things and if you are the least bit interested in the person to whom you are giving, I am sure that most retailers can offer sufficient choice to come up with something that may just be suitable.
PS Best gift of the day was one where recipient was pressured to tell giver that he already had the item whereupon giver immediately took it back and promised to replace it with a gift card to a shop of the recipient’s choice. Done deal, a couple of red faces but a happy ending and at least the person getting the gift card was able to specify where it should be from.
Hey, this has been going on ever since man invented the fruitcake. There is one obvious cure and that is personalization. Kinda hard to regift when something has your initials on it. Retailers should find a way to offer personalization as a perk to their best customers. I can hear the pitch now… “Shop at Racy’s where you can buy Aunt Agnes a gift she will have to keep!” Merry Christmas!
Hmmmm. Retailers continue to become more restrictive in their return policies, and time-starved consumers are regifting. Any chance retailers can see a connection here? Retailers need to re-cast gift cards as the most thoughtful choice, not an easy way out for a lazy shopper. Add some romance, and voila! Regifting as we know it becomes much less prevalent.
Regifting is a great opportunity for retailers. The growth of regifting demonstrates that retailers are not doing a good job of matching the customer and recipient with the gift. Registeries serve this purpose, in part. Gift cards also fill part of the gap. The opportunity is to drive a better matching process. Personal shoppers, online registeries, and many other ideas I haven’t thought about are the ways to get past the “problem.” This is an opportunity for innovation, and one of the innovation opportunities that retailers often overlook.
Regifting is actually a gift to the retailer. What would happen if there was no regifting? The recipient would either try to return it, or keep it and be unsatisfied. The giver would probably know, and be unsatisfied with the choice of gift and by extension, the place it was purchased.
If the gift was returned, we all know the economics involved with returns. Apply seasonality and diminished value, and returns are costly investments in customer loyalty and service.
Please, regift it! Value continues to be generated, I don’t incur the costs of the return, and everyone wins.
I had never even heard of “regifting” until a few years ago, so clearly it is some evil Yankee concept. However, now introduced, I must admit I have found it quite useful. Let’s just say one of my new pet peeves is folks who don’t put a name on the gift bags when they attend the annual party. How do you know what’s safe to take back to their house when you go there?
As for the impact on retailers, they should encourage the practice! Regifting simply encourages more gifting. Think about it. You may have never taken a gift to Aunt Martha’s First Night dinner before. But when you spy that nifty pomegranate pulverizer sitting by the door on your way out, still in its pristine wrapping and sans gift tag, what are you gonna do? And then Aunt Martha is on the hook for a gift when she comes over for Yule log. And, utto, YOU are on the hook next year and forever after. Hey, we won’t always have a convenient ‘regift’ laying around, and then it will be off to Wal-Mart on the way to Aunt Martha’s next year. All habits that encourage more gifting will eventually benefit retail.
eBay thrives during the post holiday season according to an excerpt I saw on CNBC. This really isn’t regifting but it is an outlet for unappreciated gifts with no other home; also puts a little money in the pocket to help defray holiday costs. I really doubt that regifting cuts into retailer sales of products in a major way. At least not for the sales made prior to the actual holiday. It would seem that returns and exchanges would be more of a problem that would affect profitability.
It seems this is becoming a greater concern every year with the retail industry, with most companies looking for ways to reduce the issue.
It seems one of the main tactics is to push the idea of a gift card; this allows the receiving party to use the card to buy the product that they really want. Even to the point of McDonald’s…imagine receiving a McDonald’s gift card for Christmas…scary.
Other tactics have seen some online retailers offering services to aid the product purchasing decision. Usually issues occur when people buy late, impulse purchases, these tend to be way off the mark and lead to returns. Helping the customer make the right decision can see increased satisfaction for the receiver, hence keeping the gift.
Happy Holidays!
Regifting only happens when the original recipient gets something they don’t want and/or already have. Retailers are in a position to do something about this via personal shopping services that can help with gift selection and/or registries that can determine at least in part what a person really wants.
Another issue is that many members of the baby boomer generation (and older) already have more things than they know what to do with, which means too many gifts are really just money down the drain. And, there is so much gimmicky stuff being sold that may seem great to the giver but goes unwanted to the receiver.
Bottom line is retailers should be able to take the next step beyond loyalty data and work with their best customers, at least, to help them give gifts that will be better received.
I think retailers have created the problem themselves by flooding stores with all sorts of useless gift ideas. In the manic rush to find a gift, many people believe the hype and believe that the receiver will get the same thrill the giver got from the retail experience. Regifting is a symptom of the “more is more” consumer society we live in. Which is why I choose to exchange gifts only with a small circle of friends, all of whom know that if I can’t eat it, drink it or smoke it, I don’t want it.
My “learner’s permit” (first) wife and I, hitched in ’69, regifted wedding-gift fondue pots for years. We were regifters when regifting wasn’t cool (thank-you, Barbara Mandrell, who was “country” when country wasn’t cool). However, we always drew the line at regifting Christmas fruitcakes. (Some of our friends and relatives were “nutty as fruitcakes,” and we didn’t want to introduce the suggestion.)
A question: When women purchase expensive party gowns, wear them for one occasion while tucking all the paper-tags-on-plastic-Ts inside (ouch, ouch, ouch), and then return them with sweat stains the next day, are they regifting the retailer?
Regifting isn’t new. Only the word is relatively new. Retailers who sell gift cards help prevent regifting. Retailers with creative gift registries also help prevent regifting and returns. The same computer programs and procedures for wedding gifts can be used for Christmas, birthdays, graduations, etc. Yet many retailers don’t promote alternative uses for their wedding gift registries.
The answer to the Poll Question(s)———are Yes and Yes! Often times people believe they may know exactly what the other person needs or desires to have. It’s the well meaning intentions of the giver, or their desire to transform the giftee into someone or something they are not that is the catalyst for the Re-Gifting process.
A few years ago, I was the recipient of an ionic air purifier for use in the car. After my initial “shock and disappointment,” I thanked the giver and went my merry way. For those of you who don’t know me, I don’t smoke, brush my teeth 2X a day, shower and shave every day, and wear deodorant and after shave. I am not sure what air around me needs purifying.
This item was one of my first regifting items ever. Does anyone know where there is a Regifting Givers Anonymous chapter in Chicago?
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays!