Food Gifting: United States

Report Overview

This report forecasts US food gifting retail spending in nominal US dollars for 2019-2024. Total demand is segmented by market in terms of:
consumer and corporate.

To illustrate historical trends, total retail spending and the various segments are provided in annual series from 2014 to 2018.

For this report, food gifts are defined as food items that are packaged in a way that is suitable for gifting. Food gifts must be purchased; a food item prepared at home and given to someone is not included. There are two types of food gifts: gift-packaged candy – includes boxed chocolates, other gift-packaged chocolate, and non-chocolate gift-packaged candy; and specialty food gifts – gift-packaged foods other than candy/chocolate.

Food gifts range from baskets of treats to eat while watching football to food gift baskets at Christmas or birthdays. Food gifts can be purchased for any occasion or no occasion, for someone else or for oneself. While some food gifts, particularly assortments, may include beverages such as coffee or alcohol, those products as standalone gifts are excluded from this report (e.g., a single bottle of wine given as a gift and selected by the buyer). Food baskets refer to prepackaged assortments of foods and beverages, not consumer-assembled baskets of these items.

As applied to proprietary survey results, food gift purchasers are defined as adults 18+ who have purchased a food gift for themselves or for others in the past 12 months. In some cases, this group of food gift purchasers is further segmented to include only food gift purchasers who have purchased a food gift for others in the past 12 months. In other cases, this group is further segmented to include only food gift purchasers who have purchased a food gift for themselves in the past 12 months.

Via proprietary survey analysis, food gifting recipients are indirectly and directly assessed. Food gifting purchasers are asked a range of questions that shed light on recipients. Questions are also asked of gift recipients. For example, they are asked about which occasions they received food gifts and the type of food gifts they have received.

Food gift recipients are further segmented into those who have received a food gift in connection with their employment (a "business" food gift) and those who have received a food gift not in connection with their employment (a "personal" food gift). The latter group includes all survey respondents, while the former group included only respondents who are employed full time (at least 30 hours per week) or part time (less than 30 hours per week). This segmentation approach allows us to assess both "personal" and "business" food gifting.

A full outline of report items by page is available in the Table of Contents.

Related NAICS Codes:
311811 Retail Bakeries
424410 General Line Grocery Merchant Wholesalers
445110 Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores
445120 Convenience Stores
445210 Meat Markets
445291 Baked Goods Stores
445292 Confectionery and Nut Stores
445299 All Other Specialty Food Stores
445310 Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
453220 Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
454110 Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses
492210 Local Messengers and Local Delivery

• Assessing Coronavirus Pandemic Impacts on the Food Industry
• Market Size
• Food Gifting Occasions & Opportunities
• Types of Food Gifts & Recipients
• Reasons for Buying & Not Buying Food Gifts
• Frequency of Food Gifting & Purchase Prices
• Food Gifting Retail Distribution
• Food Gifting Innovation & Marketing Strategies
• Food Gift Packaging

• Food Gifting Market Participants & Brand Positioning

• Scope
• Sources
• Industry Codes
• Resources

• Figure 1 | Key Trends in the US Food Gifting Market
• Figure 2 | US Food Gifting Retail Spending by Market, 2014 - 2024 (US$ bil)
• Table 1 | US Food Gifting Retail Spending by Market, 2014 - 2024 (US$ bil)
• Figure 3 | US Food Gifting Retail Spending by Market, 2014 - 2024 (%)
• Table 2 | Food Gift Purchasing Occasions by Gifts for Others vs. Self, 2020 (% of adults purchasing)
• Table 3 | Food Gifting: Gifting to Others vs. Self; Receiving Personal vs. Business Gift, 2018 - 2020 (%)
• Table 4 | Attributes Sought When Purchasing Specialty Food Gifts, 2010 - 2020 (% buying any food gifts)
• Table 5 | Leading Suppliers to the US Food Gifting Market
• Table 6 | NAICS & SIC Codes Related to Food Gifting