As the demand for personalised presents continues to rise, e-commerce brands are recognising the importance of offering value-added services like personalisation and gift wrapping.
Understand Your Customer’s Love Language
Generic gifts no longer hold the same appeal as they once did, and the desire to stand out and create a memorable experience has led to the increasing popularity of personalised gifts. From custom-engraved jewellery to monogrammed handbags and engraved beauty products, people are seeking ways to add a personal touch to their expressions of love. The emotional impact of a thoughtfully personalised gift often surpasses that of a typical present, making it an ideal choice for Valentine’s Day.
Research shows personalisation at scale can yield a 2% rise in total sales* and with 63% of consumers willing to spend more for Valentine’s Day gifts that have longer lasting appeal, what better time to differentiate your brand.
Personalisation isn’t the only way to add value to your brand’s offering. Adding a gift-wrap option at checkout can elevate the experience for your customers when they’re buying gifts for loved ones. In 2022, 20% of consumers ranked complimentary gift wrapping as most valuable to them when Valentine’s shopping. Gift-wrap has tons of advantages and is a great way to improve your customer’s shopping experience and retention, highlight your branding and increase your average order value.
Your Perfect Match for Value-Add Logistics
ILG shares: "In 2023, more than 60,000 of our customers’ orders included value-added services like embroidery, engraving, or gift messaging, ranging from embroidered baby grows to engraved perfume bottles. Brands such as Mori, Dock & Bay and Creed trust us to manage the entire fulfilment process, including personalisation and other value add services, from end to end.
Our warehouse teams are highly trained and with advanced technology in our facilities we can incorporate the personalisation at fulfilment stage. Many brands find themselves having to outsource personalisation to third parties (increasing delays and the risk of errors) or unable to offer it at all. Not all fulfilment providers offer personalisation services, but outsourcing to one that does is the most cost-effective and efficient way to enhance your customer’s experience."
British Retail Consortium CEO Helen Dickinson spoke on 2023 Valentine’s sales:
“While the cost-of-living crisis made customers increasingly price sensitive, they are still ready to celebrate special occasions. This helped deliver strong sales of fragrance and jewellery for Valentine’s Day.”
The company states: "With our specialty fulfilment expertise in the beauty, fashion and wellbeing sectors, we are already equipped with the experience to support spikes in demand for Valentine’s Day as well as every other seasonal spike throughout the year."
Take a look at the numbers behind the 2023 peak season here.
Love is in the Details
We’ve worked with a number of our clients to flex to the needs of their customers, including sourcing the best equipment for personalisation and upskilling our staff to fulfil extensive gift-wrapping or personalisation requirements. For babywear brand MORI, moving from an in-house fulfilment model to outsourcing their fulfilment to ILG was critical to keeping up with their growth and scaling to their full potential. MORI had been handling its own personalisation using desktop embroidery machines, now, ILG staff are fully trained to undertake all of their embroidery of names and gift-wrap across a range of their baby clothes and garments.
“We needed a logistics partner with clothing and gift fulfilment expertise, who could handle the volume but also deliver high-quality personalisation. Attention to detail and reliability were the key decision makers; ILG convinced us that they could do the job and have lived up to our expectations.”
Founder & CEO, MORI
Elevate Your Valentine’s Day Gifting with Expert Personalisation and Gift Wrapping Services with ILG
For brands looking to capitalise on the trend of personalised gifts for Valentine’s Day, partnering with a fulfilment provider with years of experience will help reap the benefits. These partnerships streamline the order fulfilment process, allowing businesses to focus on creating unique, high-quality products while leaving the labour-intensive processes to your 3PL.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, the trend of personalised gifts will continue to gain momentum. For e-commerce brands looking to get closer to their customers, collaboration with a fulfilment partner offering value-added services is key to delivering love this Valentine’s Day.
Are you looking for your perfect 3PL match this Valentine’s Day? Get in touch with ILG today.
*Deloitte
