Loyola Quinlan Professor Offers Holiday Gift Buying Advice to Shoppers
News Flash: We’re less than one week away from Christmas! Have you finished your holiday shopping yet? Of course you haven’t! For those procrastinators who have not, Professor Mary Ann McGrath of the Loyola University Quinlan School of Business has some tips for you.
McGrath recently published a guide on the Quinlan website that outlines four shortcuts for gift giving. The list offers consumers a few different ideas on how to best spend money on others this holiday season. A survey by the National Retail Federation shows that shoppers are expected to spend about $967 this year, up 3.4 percent from 2016; and that number only increases for those in the 18-24 year-old demographic.
McGrath’s first piece of advice is to focus on one or two special people. Don’t get hung up on finding special gifts to everyone in your life, you’ll only be wearing yourself, your time, and your money thin. Instead, she advises that consumers “choose one or two special people in your life—perhaps your significant other, a very special friend, or a parent—and find that special gift for him or her.”
Next, McGrath encourages giving non-traditional gifts, such as services or nonprofit contributions. Think of who you are buying for an purchase a service that best suits them. Know someone with kids? Buy them credit toward a babysitting service. Got a foodie in your life? You can’t go wrong with a restaurant gift card.
For those who have everything, consider making a contribution to a charity in their name. “If you are not sure which groups your recipient favors, a charity that benefits children is always a good choice,” she says.
Ultimately, McGrath says that the most successful gifts are small do not necessarily come from a store. In fact, she has found that “the perfect gift” is oftentime the handmade gift of a child. “In just that spirit, give generously and freely, try not to burden yourself or your recipients, and enjoy the company of family and friends,” she says.
McGrath, a professor of marketing, is an expert on consumer rituals, gift exchanges, and shopping behavior. She recently expanded her research into the international marketplace, and publishing several papers related to shopping and consumer behavior in China, where she lived and taught for two years. You can learn more about McGrath by reading her bio page.
CEOs of Lucky Brand, Warby Parker, Alice + Olivia and Triumph Motorcycles Are Among Speakers at Knowledge@Wharton’s Retail and Consumer Goods Summit
The Wharton School – University of Pennsylvania announced that Knowledge@Wharton’s Retail and Consumer Goods Summit will feature Wharton faculty and retail and consumer goods practitioners discussing growth strategies at established, emerging and start-up companies. Topics that will be addressed include innovation-fueled growth, digital strategy, assortment variety, disruptive business models, growth-oriented store associate planning, strategic brand extensions, collaborating with finance to achieve high performance, and effective talent management strategies. The conference will feature presentations, fireside chats, panels, and other interactive formats.
The summit is hosted by Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton School’s online business research and analysis journal, in partnership with Wharton’s Jay H. Baker Retailing Center and Momentum. The NASDAQ and EY are the summit’s founding sponsors.The conference program will be held on April 28-29 at NASDAQ MarketSite and will feature Wharton faculty and retail and consumer goods leaders, including Carlos Alberini, Chief Executive Officer, Lucky Brand, Barry Calpino, Vice President, Breakthrough Innovation, Kraft Foods Group, George Calvert, Chief Supply Chain & R&D Officer, Amway, Vicki Cantrell, Senior Vice President, Communities, and Executive Director of Shop.org, National Retail Federation (NRF), Mukul Pandya, Editor-in-Chief, Knowledge@Wharton,
Mieke van der Loo, Chief Sales Officer, Bugaboo and Patti Williams, Wharton Associate Professor of Marketing
The conference is designed to be a unique learning and networking forum and may be of interest to people in senior-/mid-level positions at retail and consumer goods companies and related industries in a range of functions, including marketing, strategy, merchandising, customer service, sales, digital, IT, and finance. For more information, including details on how to register, please visit http://knowledge.whartonevents.com/growth.
