Gift giving

Today’s lesson was based upon gift giving. In this blog we will look at high and low involvement purchases and how gift giving effects how marketing is used.

When purchasing gifts we go through Kotler's buyer decision process, depending upon how important the gift is and who it is for will impact on the amount of involvement we use when going through these stages. Generally our emotions depend upon how involved we become when purchasing a particular gift.

Laurent & Kapferer (1985) states that there are many ways in which levels of involvement can be
Measured

The level of involvement is influenced by these components…
Importance and risk (FTPEPS) - Financial, Time, Performance, Ego, Physical, Social
Fear of making a bad purchase - want to avoid upset or disappointment
Pleasure value of purchase - how much will the person like
What other people may think - don’t want others to dislike

Levels of involvement are determined also by the way in which we purchase things I am now going to show the differences between the levels of involvement
High
Think-feel-do e.g. House
Low
Think-do-feel e.g. Fizzy drink

Experimental/impulse
Feel-do-think e.g. Chocolate

Behavioural influence
Do-think-feel e.g. Shoes

There are three types of gifts…Functional gifts - kettle, toaster, hairdryer and washing machine etc. These are all products which are designed for a specific function/purpose.Symbolic gifts - expensive alcohol, perfumes, watches etc. All these gifts will enhance the person they are given to and they would have a special symbolic meaning when they are given as gifts as they are normally expensive.
Hedonistic gifts - Chocolates ,flowers etc. these gifs have one simple purpose which is to make someone happy.
Impact on marketing
As you can see when we are selecting gifts for specific people it is a deep thought process you go through and there is a lot of emotion involved as you want to get the right gift. When choosing a gift you will probably find yourself going to a specific store for that product I.e. watch = jewellers . So when the marketers advertise a specific product they must make sure that the product is being advertised in the right place and that the product has a specific gift type this in turn will make it easier for the customer to choose a specific gift as it meets there criteria (level of involvement). A high class product being advertised will most likely be a high level of involvement purchase as the risks are potentially higher (see influences that effect involvement). And if the customer wants a special gift they will/may notice the advert and get that product.

here is a video that enable you to neve choose the wrong gift