Economics of gifting "Stuff"
Stuff, clutter, shopping, gifting--all of this has been on my mind this year. It's nothing new. I've had years of "I'll give wonderful HANDMADE gifts this year" (am I insane?) and "I'll donate to a charity for you" and "everyone loves gift cards." But for this, my first self-employed year, I think enough is enough and I've bought no gifts.
In light of that attitude, it might seem odd that I've created a giftable option for JCP Books, but I think of that option as more of an experiment than anything else, since I've become fascinated with behavioral economics. I offered two choices, a 99¢ gift-pack to give a little token gift to five friends, and a "choose your own." So far, everyone who's purchased has chosen their own, have given their friends specific books rather than dollars-off coupons, and have spend significant money per gift (i.e. given bundles of 5-10 ebooks to their friends).
Interesting! It would suggest to me that the givers are trying to gift a specific experience with their present, and maybe even that they want to then discuss the stories they particularly loved with their good friends and further the experience by sharing it in that way. I would also say that the fact that the buyers are willing to spend into the double-digits to get their friends some ebooks would indicate that they value a piece of electronic content as much as they value a physical item, and that they think of an e-gift as being just as substantial as a physical gift, not just a little, token, "I was thinking of you" throwaway item.
I thought these statistics on gifting and value perception were fascinating (and maybe a bit disturbing.)
I would be totally cool with receiving a fruitcake (see "The Fruitcake Contradiction" in the right column) and I've never understood the bad rap it usually gets. They are very expensive to make. Then again I think the money-time-value equation in my head probably skews differently than it does for most folks.
One of my friends bought vanilla beans and brewed up a homemade vanilla extract this year that she gifted with recipe cards. How cute and clever! I was very impressed. I also thought it looked like a hell of a lot of work :D
So I've been putting vanilla in everything...
In light of that attitude, it might seem odd that I've created a giftable option for JCP Books, but I think of that option as more of an experiment than anything else, since I've become fascinated with behavioral economics. I offered two choices, a 99¢ gift-pack to give a little token gift to five friends, and a "choose your own." So far, everyone who's purchased has chosen their own, have given their friends specific books rather than dollars-off coupons, and have spend significant money per gift (i.e. given bundles of 5-10 ebooks to their friends).
Interesting! It would suggest to me that the givers are trying to gift a specific experience with their present, and maybe even that they want to then discuss the stories they particularly loved with their good friends and further the experience by sharing it in that way. I would also say that the fact that the buyers are willing to spend into the double-digits to get their friends some ebooks would indicate that they value a piece of electronic content as much as they value a physical item, and that they think of an e-gift as being just as substantial as a physical gift, not just a little, token, "I was thinking of you" throwaway item.
I thought these statistics on gifting and value perception were fascinating (and maybe a bit disturbing.)
I would be totally cool with receiving a fruitcake (see "The Fruitcake Contradiction" in the right column) and I've never understood the bad rap it usually gets. They are very expensive to make. Then again I think the money-time-value equation in my head probably skews differently than it does for most folks.
One of my friends bought vanilla beans and brewed up a homemade vanilla extract this year that she gifted with recipe cards. How cute and clever! I was very impressed. I also thought it looked like a hell of a lot of work :D
So I've been putting vanilla in everything...
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