Corporate Gifting Research Notes
See who was surveyed, what the findings can support and where they stop. Use the evidence to ask better questions about your gifting brief.
These findings answer different questions. Buyer preferences can guide an RFQ. Recipient attitudes can inform the gift brief. None establishes the return on a particular kit or proves that packaging causes retention.
Buyer survey · PPAI-01
Limit: Stated preference, not measured conversion or a US-only holiday result.
PPAI: Better Merch Is Better Marketing ↗Buyer survey · PPAI-02
Limit: Does not establish a required turnaround or the sales effect of faster quoting.
PPAI: Better Merch Is Better Marketing ↗Recipient attitude · HARRIS-01
Limit: Vendor-sponsored, self-reported attitudes. Not a causal retention result or buyer spending measure.
Packed with Purpose / Harris Poll release ↗For a pricing brief, list the same scope and unknown charges in each quote. For recipient fit, ask about usefulness, preferences and delivery constraints. For operational capacity, use your own confirmed quantities and approved timelines. These are planning recommendations, not effects measured by the studies.
This is a selective ledger of accessible primary releases relevant to kit procurement. It is not a systematic review or a representative industry average. Percentages keep their source population; a publication date does not replace a fieldwork date. Missing details remain “not disclosed.” Multiple claims from one study are not independent studies.
Teal compiled the ledger; the original publishers own the findings. Sources checked October 26, 2026. Dataset version 1.0.1. Send a correction with the claim ID and source to info@tealpackaging.com. No private CRM data is included.
The buyer findings support questions to ask vendors about quote clarity and sample workflows. The recipient finding supports a discussion about whether a gift suits its audience. Neither measures annual corporate spending, the effectiveness of a particular gift or how much a Fortune 500 HR department should budget.
Keep the denominator with the number. The PPAI end-buyer findings come from one group of 257 respondents. The separate agency sample is not part of that denominator. The Harris recipient finding refers to the gift-recipient subgroup, not all US adults or all employees at large companies. These distinctions matter when a statistic is copied into a presentation.
| Question | What the ledger can tell you | What your program still needs |
|---|---|---|
| Should the RFQ show every charge? | Some surveyed buyers requested better pricing transparency. | Matched specifications, explicit exclusions and written supplier terms. |
| Which gift will employees use? | Recipient attitudes raise a concern about gifts that feel generic. | Feedback from your eligible audience and a clear definition of usefulness. |
| Will welcome kits arrive on time? | These studies do not measure your fulfillment operation. | Confirmed stock, approved pack-out, dispatch dates and delivery observations. |
| Will gifting improve retention? | The ledger does not establish a causal effect. | An appropriate evaluation of the wider employee program, with other influences considered. |
| What is a reasonable annual budget? | The ledger provides no Fortune 500 spending benchmark. | Your occasion counts, approved scope and complete supplier quotes. |
Gallup and Workhuman's longitudinal recognition research examines employee recognition and later turnover. Recognition is broader than receiving merchandise, and the study does not isolate the effect of buying a kit. Do not apply its reported association to kit spending to invent a retention saving.
Before a pilot begins, define the eligible cohort, required arrival date and which costs the budget includes. Record planned kits, dispatched kits, confirmed deliveries, replacements and unresolved parcels separately. A dispatch scan is not a delivery, and an email open is not recipient satisfaction.
For an on-time delivery measure, keep the denominator explicit: kits required to arrive in that cohort. Count only observed on-time deliveries in the numerator and show unknown delivery status separately. Exclude a cancelled recipient only under a rule agreed before reporting. Alongside the rate, show counts so a small pilot is not mistaken for a stable performance benchmark.
Ask a short, optional usefulness question after receipt. Report the response count, eligible recipient count and wording together. Feedback can guide the next selection; respondents may differ from people who did not answer. These pilot measures are Teal planning recommendations, not results from the studies in the ledger.
No. This ledger does not provide a representative annual spending figure for that group, or separate HR spending from marketing, events and customer gifting. Build an account budget from its own program scope instead of multiplying a survey percentage by company headcount.
Include the original publisher, study population, fieldwork or publication date and the stated limitation. Use the claim ID to locate the source in the downloadable ledger. Cite the original study for its finding and this page for the compilation and planning method.
