UK Corporate Gift Statistics of 2022

Recent hikes in the cost of living, rapidly growing inflation rates, and uncertainty about the future of prices have made many employees feel discouraged and unmotivated at work. In fact, Gallup’s 2022 State of the Workplace report found that 79% of employees are feeling disengaged at work in 2022 - that’s over three quarters of the world population! With so many employees feeling discouraged at work, it’s more important than ever for companies to consider how to motivate and make their workers feel valued.

Corporate gifting is a fantastic way to make your employees and clients feel like their work is recognised and appreciated. Gifting can make hard workers feel noticed and valued, and can motivate disengaged employees by showing them that the company appreciates them. So how many companies are engaging in corporate gifting in 2022? How much are companies expected to allocate for corporate gifting, and what types of gifts are most frequently given to and received by employees and clients in the UK? 

Which UK cities have the most generous bosses? 

Corporate gifting is common across the UK, but are there any cities that stand out when it comes to the frequency of company gifting? To find out, we used Keyword Finder to analyse a range of Google search phrases related to corporate gifting, such as ‘gifts for staff’, ‘employee appreciation gifts’, ‘employee gift ideas’, ‘gift ideas for office staff’ and ‘staff appreciation gifts’. We conducted this research for 82 of the most populous cities in the UK, and then combined the average monthly search volumes for these phrases. We proceeded to divide this figure by the city population, and then multiply it by 50,000 to find out how many searches are conducted in each city per 50,000 people per month. It should be noted that searching for these phrases does not necessarily indicate an intention to buy or give corporate gifts. 

Rank	City	Average monthly searches for corporate gifting per 50,000 people
1	Stockport	174.7
2	Salford	168.5
3	Wakefield	161.2
4	Bath	158.3
5	Hemel Hempstead	158.0
6	Worthing	155.8
7	Doncaster	154.8
8	Crawley	154.3
9	Exeter	149.8
10	Lincoln	149.8

• Bosses in Stockport seem to be the most likely to want to buy corporate gifts for their employees and clients, searching an average of 174.7 times a month per 50,000 people, 75% higher than the UK average of 100. 

• Companies in Salford aren’t far behind, searching an average of 168.5 times a month per 50,000 people for corporate gifts. 

• Bosses in London appear to be the least likely in the UK to show interest in giving company gifts to employees and clients, with Londoners only searching 12.4 times per 50,000 people per month. 

• Both of the top two cities that seem to show the most interest in corporate gifting are in the North West of England. 

So what about the holiday season? While corporate gifting is not necessarily connected to Christmas gifts, the winter months naturally bring traditions of gifting and celebration to companies across the UK. To find out where in the UK company Christmas gifting is more popular, we used Keyword Finder to analyse search volumes for the terms ‘Staff christmas gifts’, ‘Christmas gift ideas for employees’ and ‘Christmas gift ideas for staff’. We then repeated the process of combining the results, dividing the total by the population and multiplying this figure by 50,000. We found that: 

Rank	City	Average monthly searches for corporate Christmas gifting per 50,000 people
1	Hemel Hempstead	15.8
2	Oldham	15.5
3	Wakefield	15.1
4	Lincoln	15.0
5	Wigan	14.5
6	Salford	14.4
7	Stockport	14.2
8	Basildon	14.0
9	Basingstoke	14.0
10	Maidstone	13.9

• People in Hemel Hempstead are more likely to search for Christmas gifts for employees than anywhere else in the UK, conducting an average of 15.8 searches per month per 50,000 people. 

• Next up is the Northwestern city of Oldham, where people conduct 15.5 searches per month for Christmas gifts for employees.

• People in Stockport are the 7th most likely to search for employee gifts for Christmas, and are also the most likely to search for corporate gifting in total. 

Did the pandemic affect interest in giving corporate gifts in the UK?

To find out how much Covid affected UK interest in corporate gifts, we took a look at the data offered by Google Trends for the search term ‘corporate gifting’ over the past 3 years. Google Trends presents a figure representing the level of interest searchers have shown in a particular search term on the Google search engine every week. This figure ranges between 0 and 100.

 

• During the week of November 29th, 2020, the Google search term ‘corporate gifts’ reached a maximum interest level of 100, higher than any other month in the last 3 years. This could be due to higher company gifting budgets resulting from work adjustments caused by the pandemic. 

• Interest peaked again in the week of August 14th, 2022, reaching the second highest level in 3 years. This is surprising, due to the month of August falling in the summer, four months before the holiday season. 

• People showed less interest in ‘corporate gifts’ as a whole in 2021, with a maximum of only 57 that year. 

What types of corporate gifts do companies prefer to give?

We wanted to find out what UK bosses prefer when it comes to company gifting: do UK bosses prefer buying cheap or luxury gifts? What specifications do companies look for when searching for corporate gift ideas? To find out, we once again utilised Keyword Finder to study average monthly Google search volumes for phrases such as ‘cheap corporate gifts’, ‘bulk corporate gifts’, ‘sustainable corporate gifts’ and ‘unique corporate gifts’, and several variants where search volumes appeared to be split between variations of the same phrase. We then added different variations of the same search together. 

 

• Companies seem to prefer their corporate gifts to be luxury and high-end, searching for variants of ‘luxury corporate gifts’ an average of 240 times a month. 

• Over a third of searches conducted for corporate gift categories are searching for sustainable and eco-friendly gifts (37%). 

• A mere 5% of average monthly searches (30) are conducted for cheap or bulk corporate gifts.

• Nearly 1 in 5 Google searches conducted for company gift categories (18%) are looking for unique and unusual gifts to give to their employees or clients. 

What are the most common types of corporate gifts?

Choosing the right gift for an employee or client is just as important as the decision to give a gift in the first place. Everyone has their own preferences, and what kind of gift you give will largely depend on the nature of your company, the resources available to you, and the company or employees you’re presenting the gifts to. So what are the most common corporate gift items to give in the UK? And what do employees and clients hope for when it comes to company gifts? 

We used a survey conducted by One4All Rewards to see what types of corporate gifts are most frequently gifted to employees and clients in the UK. As available data was incomplete, we’ve classified unavailable categories as ‘other’. 

• One4All Rewards revealed that 35% of corporate gifts are food and drink-based, making them the most popular type of gift to buy for employees and clients in the UK. 

• The second most popular type of corporate gift are gift cards (29%), allowing employees and clients to choose their own gifts from a range of available products. 

• And 21% of corporate gifts in the UK are monetary rewards such as bonuses. 

So what types of gifts do workers prefer receiving? According to a survey conducted by Blackhawk Network, here are the types of gift cards UK employees prefer to receive.

• 1 in 4 UK employees (25%) prefer to receive multi-retailer gift cards that offer them a choice over where to shop. 

• 1 in 5 workers in the UK (21%) would prefer a choice of any category of retailer when receiving a gift card as a corporate gift. 

• And 1 in 6 workers prefer entertainment gift cards for an entertainment experience such as tickets to see a show or to go on a day trip (15%). 

What do UK employees expect from company gifts? 

Gifting is a sign of goodwill from an employer to an employee, and can show just how much the employee and their work is appreciated in the company. Gifting is great for morale and professional relationships, and can keep employees, clients and suppliers feeling motivated and valued. While expecting a gift can often be seen as bad manners, companies failing to offer gifts can make their employees feel undervalued and dismissed. So what do UK employees expect from their employers when it comes to corporate gifts?

• Blackhawk Network’s survey revealed that nearly 9 in 10 employees would like to receive a gift from their employer for Christmas (88%). 

• In the same study, 45% of employees claim that it’s important for a company to give gifts to employees in the holiday season. 

• Despite the value employees place on corporate gifting at Christmas, 46% say they don’t expect a gift from their employer during the festive season. 

How much should UK companies spend on corporate gifts?

When it comes to giving gifts, there’s an underlying expectation for a gift to be well thought-out and to reflect the value of an employee or client. Cheap and generic gifts can cause employees to become frustrated, and to feel undervalued or dismissed by the company. So how much should you expect to spend on corporate gifts for your employees and clients? 

• One4All estimates that the corporate gifting market in the UK is worth about £78 million altogether. 

• Their study found that the average value for corporate gifts is about £50. Keeping the value lower may be due to companies avoiding any breach of the Bribery Act of 2010. 

• HMRC allows companies to give gifts with a value of up to £50 to an employee each year without paying tax on the gift. The gift must be business-related to be exempt from tax. 

When buying corporate gifts, it’s important to know how much your company is willing to spend per worker, and whether or not tax will apply to the gifts you’re giving. You should always stay up-to-date with rules and regulations, and keep a record of spending in case the value or nature of the gift needs to be reviewed in regard to tax and budgeting. 

Hopefully this information has helped you get a better understanding of corporate gift statistics and the culture of corporate gifting in the UK. For more information about corporate gifts, or to browse gift ideas for companies, employees, teachers or anyone else on your list this year, check out our blog here.