Survey: What gifts not to buy in 2024

20.1.2024 | Articles

Around 220 billion CZK is spent in Czech e-commerce every year, and a significant part of the turnover will certainly be for the purchase of gifts for loved ones. This means that we quite possibly spend literally billions of crowns on inappropriate gifts. Are gifts such as perfumes, clothes or various accessories really that popular?

What will you learn in the article?

Based on a Finder.com survey, we will find out which category of gifts men or women dislike the most.

Thanks to this survey, next Christmas we can reach for certainty or simply buy a gift voucher or create our own.

Although clothes are among the most sold goods in the Czech Republic, it is precisely this type of gift, based on a survey, that is the most unwanted.

Czech e-commerce

The estimated turnover of Czech e-commerce in 2023 is approximately 220 billion crowns. This is not a small number and even the Czech Republic is a leader in Europe in this area, as it has the highest number of e-shops, namely around 52,000, per population. This is at least claimed by the server ceska-ecommerce.cz under the heading Shoptet.cz (the largest provider of boxed e-shop solutions) and Zboží.cz (the second largest product comparator in the Czech Republic).

The statistics speak clearly – clothing is a risk

Let’s see what is risky to buy as a gift for Christmas, holiday, birthday or anything else.

According to the Finder.com survey (Unwanted Gifts), when respondents could choose from different categories of gifts, with each respondent being able to choose more than one category (the sum of the percentages does not have to equal 100%), that donating clothes is the most mentioned as an unwanted gift, both for men , especially women.

If we look at the graph below, we can see that when a woman receives clothes as a gift, 53% of the time she will not like them. That is almost every other gift, in the form of clothes or accessories, the woman will not like. For men, it is slightly less, namely 45%. This fact is quite a paradox because, if we look at the statistics from ceska-ecommerce.cz, we will find that the most sold product range in the Czech Republic is clothes with 19%.

Graf nejvíce nechtěných dárku podle průzkum Finder.com

Finder.com survey – what are the most unwanted gifts? November 2022 survey.

The best-selling product range in the Czech Republic is currently undoubtedly clothing and accessories (if we ignore the mix of other categories). There are many reasons why clothing and accessories are so popular. First, they are an integral part of our daily lives. Clothing not only provides us with protection and comfort, but also allows us to express ourselves and create an impression. It is often said that clothes are a person’s business card, and this also applies to the Czech Republic.

The second best-selling assortment, with 13%, is garden and household products, followed by food (8%), children’s goods (6%) and electronics (5%).

Graf nejvíce nechtěných dárku podle průzkum Finder.com

Statistics from ceska-ecommerce.cz.

So what to give to your loved ones?

Choosing the right gift for a woman or man can sometimes be a challenge. After all, you want to make people happy and express your love, appreciation or friendship. When choosing a gift, it is important to take into account the interests and preferences of the person for whom it is intended.

Think about the hobbies and interests of the person for whom you are choosing a gift. If your partner is a lover of outdoor activities, you might consider giving them quality outdoor gear or an experiential gift related to outdoor adventure. If your friend is an avid reader, you can make her happy with a new book from her favorite author.

Personalized gifts always have a special charm. Try to find something that will be unique and customized just for the birthday boy. This way, you show that you paid attention and put personal effort into choosing the gift. A gift that meets a person’s true needs will always be appreciated.

If we look again at the first graph, we can conclude that, for example, people do not mind experience gift vouchers, or rather, it is likely that they will appreciate them. At least more than clothes, household items, fragrances, books, etc.

Another tip for a gift can be a gift that focuses on improving health and, of course, also custom gift vouchers that you create yourself for a particular experience of yours.

People often create funny gift vouchers in the graphic editor, such as for babysitting, a year-round back massage, etc. By the way, another great idea of what to give a woman or man is to simply ask the other party. However, this tactic is not always successful because some people want to be surprised.

When you don’t know what, get inspired by choosing products

We’ve mentioned a few gift tips above, but if you simply don’t know or don’t have a lot of time, we recommend trying different product comparators.

For example, Heureka has a nicely designed environment for choosing gifts. You simply choose who you are looking for a gift for and see different products. Once you like something, you go to the e-shop and order, easy.

Výběr dárku pro oslavence

Choosing a gift for the birthday boy on Heureka.

How expensive are unwanted gifts?

According to the mentioned survey, the value of unwanted gifts for women is 42 dollars and 91 dollars for men. Such a waste of money. 🤔

Unwanted gifts by generation

It is also interesting to look at the graph of unwanted gifts not only by gender, but also by generation X, Y, Z and baby boomers, i.e. by age. Who are the different generations according to Wikipedia?

Nechtěné dárky podle generace

Unwanted gifts for Christmas or other occasions by generation.

The survey of unwanted gifts by generation is also very interesting. As you can see in the graph above, clothing is clearly the most unwanted gift. However, for the so-called baby boomer generation (years 1946 to 1964), the percentage of unwanted gifts is 61%, i.e. 6 gifts out of 10.

As for household items, they are similar across generations, the same with cosmetics or perfumes.

It is interesting to see the category of gifts for literature, or books. For generation Z (years ~1997 – 2012) the rate of unwanted gifts is 29%.

What do people do with unwanted gifts?

This graph probably won’t surprise anyone, and if we look around our apartment, it will probably be clear to us.

According to the survey, 43% of people keep an unwanted gift. There is nothing unusual in the fact that a part of people, specifically 35%, give an unwanted gift to someone again.

It’s a little sad that 8% of people simply throw away an unwanted gift.

Co lidé udělají s nechtěným dárkem? Průzkum.

What do people do with unwanted gifts?

What to take away from the survey?

According to the survey, it can be seen that donating clothes can be a risk, because approximately every second “soft” gift will not be liked by the recipient.

If you are not one of those creative people who enjoy inventing “top gifts” or you simply don’t have the time, then simply print a gift voucher for something universal so that the recipient can choose what they like. Alternatively, choose an experience that is likely to be a great choice as well and you have it right away.

It is good to add to the survey that it was created in the USA and therefore it might look a little different in the Czech Republic. Respondents could choose multiple options in the questions, so the total may not equal 100%.

Source: Finder.com (https://www.finder.com/unwanted-gifts), Czech e-commerce (https://www.ceska-ecommerce.cz/)






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Ondrej Smutny

I have been engaged in SEO service, copywriting and creating websites on the WordPress system for a long time. I enjoy creating new projects on which I test my accumulated experience. The author’s primary website, where you can request SEO services for your website, or if you want to create a new website, can be found at smuton.cz.

Other projects of the author: Grafikos.cz | sKalkulacka.cz

E-mail: info@giftemplate.com

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