[Infographic] Unwrapping Gifting Trends Amongst Millennial Women This Holiday Season: 7 out of 10 of Them Prefer Gift Cards and Money

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - December 16, 2015) - As consumers rush to get their gifts for loved ones this holiday season, Influenster, the product discovery and reviews platform, surveyed 5,733 millennial women to find out about their thoughts and opinions regarding their gifting traditions, as well as their favorite products and brands to receive as presents.

48% of millennial women will be giving presents to their pets.

94% of them expect to be receiving gifts while 96% of them will be giving out presents this holiday season. As expected, these gifts are planned for their family (99%), friends (89%) and significant others (81%). However, many other special individuals are on their gifting lists as well, including: pets (48%), co-workers (47%), people who help them out (37%), teachers and/or students (29%) and neighbors (23%). The top two factors that influence the shopping decisions made on gifts include word of mouth and online reviews (both at 84%); other influences include social media (75%), brand websites (41%), magazines (39%), television (36%), mail catalogues (21%), news websites (16%) and newspaper (12%).

Surprisingly, a big majority of them are fans of gift cards (74%) and cash as a gift (70%).

While some may regard giving cash as a tacky move, millennial women do prefer cash and gift cards over many other types of gifts. That is perhaps driven by the fact that many of them still need help financially, or have older relatives who are out of touch with what their current lifestyle preferences are.

Here are gift types ranked in order of what millennial women would like to receive this year: beauty (84%), clothing and shoes (82%), gift cards (74%), money (70%), bags/purses/wallets (65%), spa/wellness (52%), electronics (48%), events (45%), food (40%), dining (40%), home furnishings (39%), travel (38%), things to do and see (38%), home appliances (37%), athletic wear (36%) and gaming console (19%).

Gifting etiquette 101: 38% frown upon regifting.

Physical gifts still triumph the majority of present transactions: 74% of millennial women would like to receive physical gifts while 68% like to give them. Interestingly, while 55% of them would rather receive experiential gifts (vacation, concert, meal etc.), only 12% of them prefer giving experiential gifts. One can easily say that most people enjoy experiential gifts, it does take more time and effort to plan to personalize such a gift -- hence the disparity in preferences between giving and receiving them. When asked about their thoughts on more atypical gifting ideas, 39% of them are of the mindset that anything goes! Still, there are outliers that they thought to be unacceptable, including: regifting (38%), giving a present unwrapped or not in a gift bag (32%) and donation to a charity of choice instead of a gift (9%).

Nike, Victoria's Secret, Urban Decay and Apple are the top brands on their wish lists.

Here's the breakdown of the top brands by category --

Beauty: Urban Decay (81%), MAC Cosmetics (78%), Smashbox (66%), Sephora Collection (59%) and NARS (58%).

Clothing and shoes: Victoria's Secret (82%), Forever21 (60%), H&M (57%), Old Navy (50%) and Charlotte Russe (45%).

Athletic wear: Nike (92%), Under Armour (72%), Adidas (57%), Lululemon (49%) and New Balance (38%).

Electronics: Apple (81%), Samsung (59%), Canon (51%), Nikon (51%), Beats (48%) and FitBit (48%).

Game Consoles: Sony Playstation (65%), Microsoft Xbox (62%), Nintendo Wii U (52%) and Nintendo 2DS/3DS (43%).

These are some of the key findings from an Influenster survey conducted from November 23 - December 1, 2015 with a total of 5,733 completes. With a sample of 5,733 female users across the following age groups (18-24: 44%; 25-29: 32%; 30-34: 24%) with heavy social media usage (On at least 2 social media channels). Average age of respondent: 25. Minority reach: 36%. The survey was conducted online in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error is +/- 1.3 percentage points.

About Influenster

Influenster is a product discovery platform and reviews site that enables consumers to find new products and get advice to make informed purchases. Members use Influenster to explore the latest products, gain fresh insight, pick up new tips, and share their opinions with others. We help our members compare products and guide them on how products can be integrated into their lives. We inspire a love for products and encourage discovery, conversations and reviews.

The Influenster community of 1.5 million+ members is still rapidly growing. These product mavens with a heavy social media presence use their influence to spread the word about the products they know. Ever since the launch of Influenster.com less than two years ago, over five million reviews have been created on nearly one million products.

Headquartered in New York City, Influenster was founded by Elizabeth Scherle and Aydin Acar in 2011. For more information or to become an Influenster visit: www.influenster.com.

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