Can AI-Powered Gifting Solutions Help Fight the Great Resignation?

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As the holiday season approaches, businesses around the world are confronted with one major problem: lack of motivation. Presents, a simple way to encourage employees, are gaining popularity. And AI-powered gifting solutions offer new opportunities for investors.

Since the pandemic began, companies — and their employees — have been under pressure. One recent study surveyed 5,000 workers, who reported a 21% rise in burnout. As a result, millions of people are reevaluating their priorities and leaving their jobs. This crisis, known as The Great Resignation, has pushed companies to transform their approach to benefits. As it turns out, the new and improved approach involves gifts. 

According to Giftpack, an AI-driven gifting service available in 78 countries, businesses more than doubled their gift spending this year. As of October 2021, the average check had increased by 66%, with a standard pay rate of $125 per unit year-over-year. Tech specialists have been the most rewarded ones, with an average gift amounting to $1,000, surpassing even CEOs and CFOs ($500).

In gifting, however, it’s the thought that counts, not the price tag. According to “The 2021-22 Employer Gift-Giving Report,” which cites a survey of 1,092 U.S.-based employees, impersonal gifts can be a letdown.

An overwhelming number of employees with a household income of $100,000 or more felt the presents they received from their employers were “generic.” Also, 42% of respondents, nearly half, were given items they didn’t want. What’s more, 37% reported a sense that their employers did not appreciate them.      

No matter how much companies value their employees, HRs and marketing departments don’t always have the resources to research each person’s preferences and come up with custom gift options. That’s why AI-powered gift solutions are attracting attention.

In April, a Boston-based AI platform called Alyce, which analyzes social media apps to personalize gift recommendations, raised $30 million in a Series B. In September, Sendoso, a solution offering access to 30,000 products, received $100 million in a Series C. And in November, the Miami-based startup Goody — which also operates a website, Goody+ for B2B gifting — raised its third $15 million round. 

The advantages of using AI in corporate gifting are obvious. By analyzing an individual’s digital footprint and social media, tech platforms can recommend personalized gifts that recipients would actually enjoy.

Giftpack, for example, achieved a 92% satisfaction rate among its clients. The company currently serves more than 900 corporate accounts in addition to over 20,000 individual clients. The Giftpack AI solution finds presents from a catalog of over three million products available worldwide and also takes care of delivery, logistics, and other operations.

“COVID-19 reminded businesses how important it is to show their employees that the company cares about them," said Archer Chiang, Giftpack founder and CEO. "Gifts are an obvious way to bolster motivation and even support mental health while working remotely.”

The U.S. corporate gifting market is poised for continued growth, and is expected to reach $306 billion by 2024, according to Coresight Research. Most likely, this growth will be driven by innovation. Buyers are looking for wider variety, timely delivery, and a simplified end-to-end gifting process.

AI-powered solutions could become an integral part of this digital transformation. And hopefully, in the future, nobody will complain that they got the same “creepy pair of socks as last year.”

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