Corporate gifting is a means through which your business can develop a strong business image. This is not the only goal though. By sending global corporate gifts to employees, clients, or partners, you also express your gratitude. You want your gifts to carry this secret message and make the receiver delighted. But what if this message is lost and the receiver doesn’t see your kind gesture.
This happens often when the corporate gifters don’t do their research well and gift something generic. In such cases, not everyone appreciates what they received, especially when it hurts their cultural beliefs and norms.
Your efforts are obsolete here and so is the money you spent. Your stakeholders feel insulted and you are left with a business relationship hanging by the thread.
Such instances have surged recently with the proliferation of global teams and international gifting practices.
How can you observe this thin line and be mindful when you gift international clients and employees?
Being Considerative Culturally – What Should you do?
Every company has a HR or marketing team that does research before finalizing the corporate gift item. They must keep the following pointers in mind before shortlisting one.
Never gift expensive things
The urge to go big and spend lavishly on gifts to impress your clients is common. But at what cost? Accepting expensive gifts often puts them in an embarrassing position due to multiple reasons, especially with clients.
- Thinking about whether you expect any favor in return.
- Forcing them to find a better return gift
- May appear like you are bribing them.
- Appears personal
And there are more reasons too. So, reach the middleground and set a common budget according to international norms for global corporate gifts.
Avoid Gift Items that are too Personal
In most regions across the world, personal items as corporate gifts are frowned upon. For example, items like clocks, perfumes, clothes, personal accessories, mirrors, and flowers are not accepted in the Asian region even in a personal context. These are reserved for friends, family, and other loved ones. So, choosing them as a corporate gift doesn’t make sense, leading to poor response from the receivers’ end.
Cultural Norms Vary Across Regions. Choose your Gift Wisely
A specific country or region may be into a gift item whereas another region may hold superstitious views about accepting it. So, you cannot pick the same product to gift internationally.
Here is a quick summary for you about international gifting customary followed across regions.
- For example, Chinese culture gives more weightage to numbers and pairs in which the gift comes in.
- Americans are much open to gifts that are high-end, like branded items, merchandise, chocolate boxes, etc. Their corporate gifting and receiving norms are pretty relaxed as long as you don’t send prohibited or offensive items.
- Indians like it when they receive gifts around festival occasions like Diwali. Check out our range of corporate Diwali gift hampers here
- In the case of the UK, it’s St. Patrick’s Day where gifts are usually exchanged.
- When you are gifting someone from France, think of a good-quality and sustainable product that’s useful and thoughtful.
- People from the Nordics usually don’t do a lot. But they do accept gifts around deal closing times.
- Businesses from Spain do share and receive gifts like native products, food items, beverages, etc. You can clearly send them corporate gifts when you close a deal.
- Corporate gifting is crucial in Japan and so is returning them with something of similar value. You can send them their favorite things like premium-quality tea, or any popular product from your country. Mark a big no next to flowers. This is unacceptable in most regions especially as a corporate gift.
These points clearly show that you have to do your homework and find out what works for your international employees and customers.
Conduct a survey and get their opinions to find what they are likely to prefer.
These cultural rules apply to the packaging as well. Europeans and Americans like personalized and attractive packaging. So, you should spend time on customizing the gift accordingly.
Respect their Local Culture
One of the simplest ways to get accepted is respecting their native culture. You can send them their native products, crafts, monument showpieces, or local literary works to show that you go beyond to make them feel comfortable. Gifting their local products is fairly acceptable everywhere as long as they are authentic and are presented well.
Always go with the Most Accepted and Appropriate Global Corporate Gifts
There are a few common articles and objects that everyone likes irrespective of their cultural, regional, and religious background. Some of them are as follows.
- A good quality drinkware.
- Electronic audio devices
- Organizers, diaries, and planners
- Chocolates, chocolates, and more of them.
- Gift cards with pre-filled money
- Backpacks with company logos
- An extra day off (why not?)
And the list goes on.
If you don’t have time to conduct a study, you can quickly choose gift cards, decide the gift amount, and share it with your international employees or clients.
In recent times, employers decide to offer their stakeholders virtual experiences, like an OTT subscription, voucher, or a ticket to an online show. This can work too, in cases where you run out of time.
Timing is the Key
When it comes to global corporate gifts, timing is more important. You cannot send a gift to a person without any special reason behind it. Since most countries have their own festivals and special days, you must consider this fact strictly for international gifting. This is why most global employers stick with universal special occasions like New Year.
You can take the extra mile and note down the special events celebrated across your stakeholders’ locations and send corporate gifts to uplift their spirits.
However, timings will not be applicable when you send gifts like onboarding kits.
Final thoughts
Corporate gifting and international gifting may sound like two different things. But the line is becoming a dot as companies are becoming global, expanding across their native regions. With this being the case, knowing how gifting works beyond your boundaries is paramount. Once you crack this, you can choose the most ideal gift and strengthen business relationships. Check out corporate gifts of all sorts at Branded Corporate Gifts.
FAQs about Global Corporate Gifts
1. Are corporate gifting profitable?
Yes. Corporate gifting is profitable. You can gift your employees, business partners, and clients which will strengthen your relationships with them and boost your ROI in innumerable ways. For example, gifting an employee will improve the way they feel about working with you and reduce employee attrition rates. This cannot be the sole contributor, but it can surely have a considerable impact.
2. What are some ethical issues around accepting gifts?
In cultural and business contexts, accepting gifts may be inappropriate when it falls under the following conditions. The gift being highly expensive, the gift sounding too personal and offending the receiver, the gift sounding like a pride to win back something, and many more like this.
3. What is not appropriate as a corporate gift?
Things like intimate items, clothes, personal accessories are not appropriate as a corporate gift. Gifts that are not personalized are also not appropriate to accept as a corporate gift.