The gifting market sees strong engagement, with 84% of consumers making a gift purchase in the past year. Younger consumers, those aged 16-34, are a driving force behind this engagement.
UK
Retail
simple
UK Gift Purchasing Journey Consumer Report 2025
Shoppers want affordable, meaningful gifts – and digital tools to help them find the right balance. Retailers who implement AI-powered gifting tools are better equipped to address these complex needs.
The UK gifting market sees strong engagement, with 84% of consumers making a gift purchase in the past year. Younger consumers, those aged 16-34, are a driving force behind this engagement. They eagerly adopt digital tools, embrace personalisation and explore emerging trends – pushing the sector to innovate and adapt to evolving preferences.
Birthdays remain the top occasion for gift giving, driving consistent demand across the sector. While seasonal events and other special occasions fuel ongoing growth, highlighting the market’s resilience.
Seasonal event gifting has grown increasingly competitive, with a heavy reliance on key holidays creating significant operational pressures during peak periods as retailers compete for consumer spend. By diversifying into smaller, alternative seasonal events, retailers can ease this pressure, protect margins and drive growth – especially with events that require minimal adjustments to their product offerings.
Modern gifting needs require a personalised, streamlined shopping experience – that remains both cost-effective and affordable. As gift buyers’ expectations grow more complex, the opportunity to leverage technology becomes increasingly significant. By harnessing advanced tools, retailers and brands can deliver highly tailored gift recommendations that better align with evolving gifting needs.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
An overview of the key gifting occasions, the most popular product categories and the key demographics driving gifting trends.
A look at the opportunities for retailers and brands that successfully leverage AI-powered gifting tools, and how to do so.
Why looking towards smaller and alternative calendar events will help grow the competitive gifting market.
An in-depth look at the importance of personalisation, further fuelled by AI technology, in the gift purchasing journey.
Analysis of the methods gift buyers use to buy gifts, and where retailers need to step up.
Exploring future tools to simplify gift shopping, and why AI technology is the best solution.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
What you need to know
Outlook for the UK gifting sector
Opportunities
Turn gift buyers into self-treaters with promotions
Tap into smaller calendar events for fresh gifting opportunities…
Leverage AI to meet increasingly complex gifting needs
THE MARKET
Gifting offers must cater to polarised confidence
Graph 1: British household financial confidence, 2020-25
Continued spending on seasonal events fuel wider gifting growth
Graph 2: estimated consumer spending on seasonal events, 2023/24-2024/25
Seasonal events are critical to specialist gifting sectors
Graph 3: number of customers, 2024-25
Broader market factors impact more niche gifting occasions
Chocolate and confectionery categories face sticky inflation
Graph 4: CPI, 2025
Celebrate diverse household structures
Changing ethnic demographics create new gifting opportunities
Encourage singles to embrace self-care through self-gifting
Graph 5: single status, by age, 2025
THE CONSUMER
Gifting purchasing occasions and products purchased as gifts
Birthday and seasonal holidays top gifting occasions
16-34s lead life event gifting as they celebrate key milestones
Graph 6: gifting occasion, by age, 2025
Learn from Kazoom’s creative packaging
Gift buyers are selective about which occasions they buy for
Graph 7: repertoire of gifting occasions, 2025
Children top crowded gifting lists
Graph 8: gift purchasing recipients in the last 12 months, 2025
Clear gender split across gifting categories
Graph 9: products purchased as gifts, by gender, 2025
Cost-conscious gift shopping behaviours
Gift buyers are cost-conscious and savvy
Cost pressures heightened for those struggling financially
Pressure to buy the right gift can increase impulse buying
Graph 10: ‘The pressure to get the right gift often makes me spend more than I intended’, by age, 2025
Celebrating milestones for others is a great chance to celebrate your own
Personalisation in the gift purchasing journey
Gift buyers take a personalised approach to gift buying
Pick and mix formats help gifters maximise budgets across multiple recipients
Personalised gifting is popular across key life events
Graph 11: ‘I purchased a personalised gift’, by gifting occasion, 2025
Retailers must tackle concerns over AI driven gifting tools
16-34s lead concerns over AI gifting tools
Graph 12: concerns when using AI gifting tools, by age, 2025
Streamlining the gift purchasing journey
Gift shoppers are resourceful when looking for the right gift
Graph 13: top five methods gift buyers use to help decide on a gift to purchase, 2025
16-34s draw on multiple sources to help them select the right gift
Graph 14: repertoire of sources used to find the right gift, by age group, 2025
Gift buyers look for ways to automate gifting
The need for gift tracking is high when buying gifts for milestone occasions
Graph 15: ‘I would be interested in using a tool that tracks what gifts I have given to people in the past’, by gifting occasions, 2025
RETAILER ACTIVITY
Advertising spend across calendar events
Graph 16: above the line advertising spend by all retailers acropss calandar events, 2024
Tap into positive sentiments around Eid
Second-hand gifting set to grow
Delivery services expand gifting offers
The Perfume Shop brings digital innovation in-store with new app launch
indu teams up with SoPost for peer-powered gifting
Grocers expand wedding offers
Pick and mix formats help gifters maximise budgets across multiple recipients
APPENDIX
The market
Changes in family structures
Number of single-person households increases
Graph 17: number of single-person households, 1996-2024
The consumer
Consumer research questions
Consumer research methodology
Other data source methodologies
Snoop SpendMapper methodology
Infegy Starscape coverage
Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
Abbreviations
Abbreviations and terms
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