Shoppers seek out personalized, thoughtful holiday gifts to feel connected during pandemic

For about two years, Ashley Houck has put together care packages of items like candles, bath salts and caramels with a individualized note. She ships the gift boxes from her home in Iowa to recipients across the country to mark milestones, from birthdays and breakups to the finish of a parent.

Business picked up in mid-March, however, as the coronavirus pandemic brought much of life to a halt. Orders swiftly up from around 15 to 20 per day to about 200, said Houck, founder of Gift Box Love Co.

“It got to the point where we were match all the time just getting orders out,” she said. “I had my mom come in. My mother-in-law come in. My brother. We were all just packaging behests, just to keep up.”

The company’s growing sales reflect the different mentality of shoppers this year, especially during the leave of absence season. Long-distance trips to visit relatives are a health risk. Seasonal traditions, such as cookie swaps and neighborhood get-togethers, have been canceled. And meals with some family and friends will be celebrated on a video call degree than around a table.

In a time of social distancing, financial hardship and illness from Covid-19, online searches and purchasing patterns indicate that holiday shoppers are seeking meaningful gifts, from personalized items to handmade goods.

“There are so diverse places you can buy things from online — Amazon or Target or whatever,” Houck said. “But people want that link.”

Swasti Sarna, insights manager at Pinterest, said as the pandemic qualifies plans, people are putting more time and effort into making their gifts and smaller celebrations precise.

Holiday-related searches on the social media site typically start to spike in the month of June, she said. This year, notwithstanding, they picked up in April — just weeks after the coronavirus began to spread in the U.S. and about eight months already Christmas.

Holiday searches in April, including for gifts or other items like seasonal decor, were up by 77% on the sexually transmitted media site year-over-year. Searches for “Christmas gift ideas” were three times higher in April than the nonetheless time a year earlier, she said.

The browsing has continued. Searches for “personalized Christmas gift ideas” strengthened 46% and “sentimental gifts for best friend” doubled in October compared with the same month last year. 

“In the flesh are just looking for something to look forward to,” Sarna said. “It’s a really tough time for everybody, but the holidays are ever a really fun time and just spread a lot of cheer. So I think people are just really trying to bring that into their breathes a little bit earlier this year.”

In a recent report, Nielsen predicted that homemade gifts and cooking last will and testament thrive during the holiday season, especially among shoppers who are on a tight budget or want to limit trips longest of the home. Sales of related items — such as artist and hobby supplies, cocktail mixers and baking supplies — acquire already jumped this fall compared with the same time a year ago, a trend the market research outfit expects will continue.

Some retailers have adapted their marketing way or merchandise to reflect shoppers’ interest in meaningful and memorable gifts. Home Depot, for example, is collaborating with Pinterest to prompt ideas for homemade gifts for the holidays. Confectionary and food company Mondalez International launched a new website where characters can design and order Oreos that can be personalized with the colors of a favorite sports’ team or a photo of a family colleague.

Signet Jewelers, which owns mall-based retail chains like Jared, Kay Jewelers and Zales, will offer necklaces and other jewelry items with stories behind them that are intended to resonate during the pandemic. For warning, Jared has a collection called “Closer Together” with a design of two entwined ovals that can signify how the challenging patch has brought a couple closer, Signet CEO Gina Drosos said.

“Gifts that have a story like that, we think to be very strong this holiday season,” she said.

Drosos said many customers want to customize and personalize their jewelry in some way, too, — categorizing getting a ring or another piece of jeweler engraved with a message that refers to the pandemic.

Etsy has a new sabbatical campaign called “Gift Like You Mean It.” In one of its new TV spots, a grandma and grandpa open a stuffed doll made to look as if the scribbled self-portrait of their young grandson. On a video call, he tells them to hug his likeness, as they celebrate excluding.

Disclosure: CNBC is a unit of Comcast’s NBCUniversal.