GiftNow Offers Insight on Mobile Gifting

Not so long ago, GiftNow was elevated into the shopping pantheon of “household names” thanks to a full-court media press that included Good Morning America, Fox, and a variety of other media outlets. They’ve gone so far as to include us among that major roster of media heavies by dropping word our way about what insights they’ve discovered about the entire practice of gifting.

GiftNow noted that better than 50 percent of gifts are bought not because of some major date on the calendar, but throughout the year in general. Better than 50 percent of gifts are bought because of a birthday—which can happen any time—or for no particular reason at all. The “Just Because” gift is surprisingly popular, GiftNow found, and contributes heavily to gift shopping.

Further, a large portion of us are last-minute shoppers. Ninety-four percent of gifts are bought within 24 hours of the gifting occasion. That’s almost all of them, and that six percent bought in advance nearly represents a statistical hiccup. When it comes to holiday gifts, people aren’t much better about getting the job done ahead of schedule; one in three gifts bought in December were bought between the 22nd and the 24th.

These three points together combine to form a useful strategy of sorts, and it depends heavily on mobile and mobile payments. Since customers are shopping for gifts year-round, the old strategy of “pick a point on the calendar and hawk it like crazy” may not work so well.

People want gifts all year, so being ready to accommodate that desire with regular sales may be a worthwhile strategy. In fact, it might be a good idea to stop running sales throughout the year and instead focus on weekend sale prices; this allows anyone to take advantage of sale prices within seven days of the gifting occasion.

Naturally, mobile payments work heavily in here as well; by offering the ability to shop from anywhere at any time of day, it accommodates the procrastination motive heavily. With the numbers so heavily skewing in this direction, any business that isn’t offering mobile shopping and mobile payments as a payment mechanism is leaving money on the table, something no business can afford to do for long.