Year-End Gifting Wrap-Up for 2005; Typical Gifter Spent Just under $2,000 Buying Gifts Last Year, Reports Unity Marketing.

STEVENS, Pa. -- Americans spent $1,934 on average buying gifts last year, according to the latest results of Unity Marketing's quarterly gift tracking study. While the fourth quarter remains the most important season for gift purchases, the typical gifter spent less than half of their annual budget ($928) from October to December. Throughout the rest of the year, gifters spent an additional $1,006 buying gifts.

"Gifting is an important motivator for people to go shopping," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses -- as well as the Classes. "Retailers tend to overlook the potential of the gifting market except for the final months of the year, while consumers are active shopping for gifts all year long. Birthdays, followed by anniversaries, new baby, friendship/thank you, and weddings are the top five gifting occasions. Christmas, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are the most popular gift holidays."

Gift Selections in Fourth Quarter Differed Markedly from the Rest of the Year

Throughout 2005, giftables were the most popular gift category. Giftables include such traditional gift items as candles, flowers, figurines, stationery, collectibles, seasonal decorations, gift for pets and other 'gifty' items. But during the fourth quarter, giftables declined to fourth place.

For the holiday gift season, entertainment and recreation gifts rose to first place for gifting. This category includes such items as books, toys, sporting goods, video/audio, DVD's and entertainment equipment, photographic equipment, computers, games, etc. In all of 2005, this was the second most popular gift category.

Clothing and fashion accessories rose to more prominence as a gift in the fourth quarter. Clothing and fashion accessories were the second most popular gift in the last three months of the year, while ranking in fourth place overall.

Store gift certificates and gifts of cash were the third most popular gift during both the fourth quarter and throughout the year.

"People make different gift choices depending upon the occasion for the gift. Holiday gift giving tends to be focused across a wider range of gift selections, while throughout the rest of the year, people think of giftables first. Retailers who want to capture a greater share of gift givers' spending should look more closely at expanding their giftables offerings, targeting the $25 to $50 price range which is the spending sweet spot for a gift," Danziger says.

The most popular giftable items in order of preference were candles and candle accessories; flowers, plants and garden accessories and decoratives; seasonal ornaments and decorations; gifts for pets; and figurines and sculpture.

About Gift Tracker Survey

Unity Marketing, on the forefront of market research on the gifting market, conducts a quarterly gift tracking study to measure the pulse of the gift consumer in a longitudinal survey of 500-600 gift buying consumers. Every quarter Unity tracks what gifts they bought during the past quarter, what gift occasions and holidays stimulated those purchases, how much they spent per holiday and occasion, where they bought gifts, the store and product brands they relied upon for gifts and their expectations for future purchases of gifts. The next Gift Tracker survey will be fielded early April 2006 to track 1Q2006 gift purchases. http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/gifting/gifttracker.html

The results of the quarterly Gift Tracker studies are compiled in an annual report called Gifting Report 2006: The Who, What, Where, How Much and Why of Gift Giving & Shopping, scheduled for publication in March/April 2006. http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/gifting/gifting.html

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing

Pamela N. Danziger is a nationally recognized expert specializing in consumer insights for luxury marketers, whether they sell luxury to the masses or the 'classes.' She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.

Advising such clients as Lenox, Cartier, Herend, Remy Amerique, Department 56, Prudential Fine Homes, Baccarat, The World Gold Council, The Conference Board and American Express, Danziger taps consumer psychology to help clients navigate and master the changing luxury marketplace. She is the author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses--as well as the Classes (2005) and Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (2004) both published by Dearborn Trade Publishing.

She is currently working on her next book about shopping, set for publication in Fall 2006.

She is a sought after speaker for conferences and meetings, such as the National Retail Federation, International Gift Fair, Hearth Patio and Barbeque Association, Aqua Show, Casual Living, and International Housewares Show, among others.

She has appeared on CNN's In the Money, NBC's Today Show, CNBC, CNN International, CBS News Sunday Morning, Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, ABC News Now, NPR's Marketplace and is frequently called upon by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, American Demographics, Women's Wear Daily, Forbes, USA Today, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune for commentary and insight.