Consumer education: gift baskets

Self-tutoring about consumer education: the tutor mentions an appeal of gift baskets.

Between Dec 25 and Jan 9 just passed, my wife and I were in numerous stores for one reason or another. Always on the lookout for what I can learn at a store, I began to notice gift baskets and gift collections, and became very interested.

The first I saw was truly a Christmas gift basket, containing Christmas chocolates, special foods, coffee, tea and such. On Dec 28, it was marked down from around $120 to $75 – something like that. Yet, in a minute’s study I could assess that, at $120, it had still been a good deal: it contained a large number of premium goods. If you liked some of them, you’d have done well to buy the basket (even at $120), kept the ones you liked, and re-gifted the rest. (Not that anyone would ever do that.)

The gift collections I’m meaning to be assortments of goods sold together at specific periods, but not seasonally themed. Back-to-school packs, for instance, that contain a range of personal care goods can be found on the shelves each August.

I found a couple different gift collections, assembled in boxes for Christmas, but of everyday personal care products. These typically contained 3-4 products: anti-perspirant, shampoo/body wash, conditioner, and/or hand soap. In these cases, the price of the boxed set was about the regular price of its most expensive item. Delighted, I picked up as many of the sets as remained, since we like all those products.

Gift baskets fascinate me because they are meant to be given – and received – as a gift. Yet, from the shelf, one might be tempted to buy oneself a gift basket – especially post-season.