The Hindu Business Line : Staying festive, despite it all

Despite being caught in the whirlpool of the global meltdown, companies still went ahead with gifting this festival season. Though the financial crisis has taken away some amount of cheer from the practice, it remains intact.

“The etiquette of corporate gifting remains on terra firma as companies want to spread the message — we value you more than ever,” say industry watchers.

According to recent research, the corporate gift market is now estimated at Rs 3,000 crore and is growing annually at about 20-25 per cent.

Says Ganesh Chella, Founder and CEO of HR firm Totus Consulting, “For companies, this is the best time to build employee-employer relations. And in times of crisis, it is a way of promoting client loyalty. Companies in sectors such as FMCG, liquor, durables, IT and pharma are reported to have budgeted expenditure for festival gifts.”

Due to lower margins, corporates may reduce their gift spend partially, maybe by 10 per cent. Some estimates suggest that the previous Diwali, Indian corporates spent nearly Rs 500 crore on gifts.

Says Anil Moolchandani, Chairman, Archies, “Corporate gifting accounts for a large revenue for a company like ours. Though the business has been down as compared to last year, the potential is still huge. We are also looking to strengthen our online business to cater to the demand. The trend this year was towards premium and luxury goods — Oriental, African and ethnic gift items are a rage.”

According to a Delhi-based corporate gift vendor, Anil Suri, bulk orders are taken at least six months in advance. “Several meetings are held with company officials to decide on the products to be gifted and the level of customisation to be done. It is all about a company’s brand equity, therefore the finer details are looked into by various levels of management before an order is executed,” he added.

Agreeing with him, Pooja Jain, Executive Director, Luxor Pens, says, “The gifting codes differ from company to company. Middle and upper echelons of the management take keen interest as their client base could stretch from one part of the globe to the other. Even services companies are leaving no stone unturned for the gifting seasons.” Luxor has introduced a range of pens in the heritage series for consumers.

According to Lovy Khosla, Elvy Lifestyle, a lifestyle mail order catalogue company, the gifting segment is getting more organised. “Earlier, companies’ officials themselves chose gifts and had them wrapped and delivered. But most people are now getting the process outsourced.”

“We are positioning ourselves as a one-stop-shop company for all gifting needs. All a company has to do is choose a product through our catalogue and we customise it and deliver it anywhere across the country. The customer is charged about seven per cent of the invoice for delivery,” he added.

Elvy ’s introductory catalogue offers more then 500 products under categories such as bar, décor, serving, bathroom accessory and junior collection. It has also tied up with ICICI Bank to expand its customer base by launching the special catalogue for the elite customers of the bank. “India no longer symbolises only the Taj Mahal and information technology. It is the youngest and the most modern market in the world. And we are prepared to harness the retail tiger,” he added.

While sweets, dry fruits and liquor remain a perpetual favourite, companies are looking for exotic and innovative gifting such as spa treatments, miniature golf sets, iPods and Swarovski crystal sets.

Says Rajesh Mahajan, Managing Director, Maspar, a company specialising in home furnishings, “Indians were hitherto unimaginative when it came to gifting. But times are changing and a lot of innovation is put into designing, developing and packaging gifts.” Maspar has introduced customised gifts in the bed and bath segment.

Corporate gifts is a vast category and gifts can be priced at a few hundred rupees or at very large amounts. Says Himani Modi, Executive Director, Modi Senator, “With pens, the opportunity just gets bigger as they are the most cost-effective way of communicating your message to the receiver. The Modi Senator range of pens starts from Rs 75 and goes up to Rs 15,000. As we strictly operate in the B2B category, we have observed the trend that there is an upsurge during the Diwali time for gifting. Clients choose more premium products, spend on getting logo and emblem designs engraved and make it more personalised.” Modi Senator, a joint venture between Senator GmbH & co from Germany and U.K. Modi group, offers a range of writing instruments.

For liquor major Diageo it is a time to introduce interesting cocktails for consumers.

Says Asif Adil, Managing Director, Diageo, “Given the Indian consumer’s growing fondness for everything unique and luxurious, a collectors’ edition of our premium and luxury spirit brands such as Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Baileys, Nilaya and so on will be lapped up by consumers,” he added.

Employee rewards and loyalty company Accor Services is offering a bouquet of gifting solutions that includes ticket compliments of universal gift vouchers, jewellery, holidays, delicard and eCompliments.

While ticket compliments are in the form of vouchers, delicard is in the form of greeting cards and eCompliments is an electronic gift voucher that offers flexibility, choice and convenience to manage and use.

“With global expertise and proven technology, eCompliments is becoming a huge hit among the employees as they can redeem their gift with ease. This voucher has a high perceived value and a variety of options to choose from at the click of a mouse, besides the choice of denomination as an advantage,” says Sandeep Banerjee, CEO and Managing Director, Accor Services India.

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