I hope none of you are like me. If you’re smart and you plan ahead, you’ve already gotten your Christmas shopping complete for 2011. Me? I haven’t even started.
According to comScore -- an Internet marketing research company providing marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses -- there may be hope for the rest of you, yet.
Measurements from comScore show that “e-commerce spending is up 15 percent for the first 39 days of the 2011 holiday season,” according to an article published on the HuffingtonPost.
If the 15 percent hike is any indication that people have completed more Christmas shopping, then this next bit of research won’t be applicable to you this holiday season, but still something to keep in mind for future gift-giving opportunities.
Marketing and psychology researchers at the University of Michigan found that “bundling together an expensive ‘big’ gift and a smaller ‘stocking stuffer’ reduces the perceived value of the overall package for the recipient,” according to a EurekAlert release on the study.
In what researchers have coined as the “Presenter’s Paradox,” gift givers and gift recipients have different perspectives. Gift givers follow a "more-is-better" logic, whereas recipients average the overall gift package and feel the entity is diluted if a large gift is coupled with a smaller gift.
Researchers say a simple litmus test for gift givers is to put yourself in the recipients’ shoes and consider what the average value of multiple gifts would be.
The study’s authors found the results didn’t apply solely to giving gifts. They found this Presenter’s Paradox was “strongly evident in seven studies across many product domains, from bundles of music to hotel advertisements, scholarships, and even ‘negative’ items such as penalty structures,” according to the EurekAlert.
In one study, for example, participants were asked to design a penalty for littering. One group came up with a $750 fine plus two hours of community service; the other group simply doled out the $750 fine. When asked to rate the severity of the two fines, perceivers thought the monetary fine, alone, was a harsher punishment than the fine plus additional hours of community service. The two hours tacked on seemed to soften the punishment.
So while the nearly $25 billion comScore reports was spent online in the first 39 days of the holiday shopping season, it may simply be a reflection of a change in consumer’s habits. Instead of hitting the malls and braving the crowds on Black Friday, shoppers are opting to peruse the offerings from home in their PJs.
But if you haven’t already got your shopping done and you’re racking your brain to come up with something to get your loved ones, it’s worth a further examination to think that perhaps less is more. That’s especially comforting if you’re on a tight budget. Either way, happy shopping and happy holidays!
Sources:
The paradox of gift giving: More not better, says new study. EurekAlert. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/vt-tpo121211.php
Black Friday or Green Monday...Holiday Shoppers Ride the Rainbow. HuffingtonPost. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joah-spearman/black-friday-or-green-mon_b_1142579.html
Bailey Mosier is a freelance journalist living in Orlando, Florida. She received a Masters of Journalism from Arizona State University, played D-I golf, has been editor of a Scottsdale-based golf magazine and currently contributes to GolfChannel.com. She aims to live an active, healthy lifestyle full of sunshine and smiles.
Reviewed December 19, 2011
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith