It’s the thought that counts – 3 in 4 Brits reveal their most important part of choosing a gift

Almost 3 in 4 Brits feel putting thought into your gift is the most important part of choosing the perfect present, a new survey by Boots has revealed.  53% have received a gift they didn’t like in the past, of which not being of their personal style (56%) and not being thoughtful (31%) were cited as the most popular reasons why it was a bad gift.

The survey of 2,002 UK adults conducted by Atomik Research reveals that over two thirds (73%) of people turn to Instagram and other social channels to help understand what loved ones would like at Christmas. 57% of Brits spend more than 12 hours online researching gifts for their loved ones and 1 in 5 admit that they find it difficult to buy a thoughtful gift if their loved ones don’t have a social media channel account. Overall, 53% of men are likely to use social media for tips in comparison with 34% of women. Almost 1 in 10 Brits (8%) even admit to checking the receivers browsing history for gifting inspiration!

According to the new Boots research, 2 in 5 Brits don’t start to drop hints for their Christmas list until November but this doesn’t apply to everyone as 1 in 10 women will start thinking about Christmas shopping as early as January.

Over a quarter of Brits (26%) agree that Mum buys the best gifts which means the pressure is on to get her the perfect gift in return. When deciding who buys the best gift and why we look forward to it 55% would agree it’s because they put the most thought into it. Don’t think you’ll get away with not wrapping it either as almost 1 in 5 (18%) feel presentation is everything when it comes to gift giving.

Brits find partners are the hardest to buy for (22%), closely followed by Mum and Dad (21%). 57% would argue this is because they have everything they want which emphasizes the importance of thoughtfulness to get a great gift.  29% look forward to receiving gifts that are useful/ practical from their favoured gift giver but we aren’t making a decision quickly as a quarter of UK adults (26%) will tend to leave buying their partners gift to the last minute. No one gets forgotten though, as over 1 in 5 women (21%) will even be getting Christmas presents for their pets.

Those aged 25-34 are the most generous gifters and the most social media savvy when it comes to finding gifting inspiration, the survey revealed. 66% get the most gift inspiration from Facebook, along with 52% of 18-24 year olds. 56% look through the posts that the person they are buying the gift from has liked on Instagram to better understand their style and interests.

View the full case study here to find out how we carried out this research and the coverage it generated.