The Wrap Up Newsletter - 1.23.2025

📈 Digital Innovation Driving $324.5B Gift Card Market Opportunities

Author

Nandini Sehgal
January 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

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Welcome to The Wrap Up, your weekly newsletter for gifting e-commerce professionals. As we unwrap the start of 2025, now is the perfect time to refresh your strategies and prepare for a year full of opportunities in the gift marketing space.🎁

Editor’s Pick 🌟

What’s driving the success of high-growth brands in 2025?

The Growth Accelerator Guide uncovers the strategies that are setting industry leaders apart, with exclusive benchmarking data, actionable insights, and proven frameworks for eCommerce growth.

One key takeaway? Upper-funnel campaigns are the foundation for robust ROAS.

🔍 Fospha analyzed tens of billions in eCommerce revenue, and the results are clear:

Brands allocating over 5% of their budget to Awareness & Consideration campaigns see dramatically higher ROAS—especially larger brands, achieving an average of 218% higher ROAS above this threshold.

For large brands, the rewards keep growing. Investing 10%+ of the digital budget in upper-funnel campaign leads to a staggering 110% higher ROAS compared to brands spending under this threshold.

📥 Download the full report here to discover how to build a high-impact full-funnel strategy.

What happens when AI meets marketing at the world's most influential business summit?

At Davos 2025, the message was clear: AI is now the driving force behind advertising and the entire customer journey.

Imagine AI powering your ad campaigns on platforms like Google Performance Max and Meta Advantage+, freeing you to focus on what humans do best: creativity and strategy. Meanwhile, social media transforms into a shopping haven, blurring the lines between content and purchase.

This is the new reality of omnichannel retail, and the brands that master AI and social commerce will dominate the next decade.

 

Sector Spotlight 🎥

NRF reports a strong 2024 holiday retail season with sales up 4% to $994.1 billion, surpassing forecasts. Lower inflation and increased online shopping contributed to growth. Total yearly sales reached $5.28 trillion.

Optimism prevails for 2025, highlighting robust consumer spending and strategic opportunities for marketers.

The retail sector by 2025 reveals shifts crucial for gifting commerce: harnessing word-of-mouth's impact, leveraging digital platforms, and adapting to Gen Z's $12 trillion spending power.

Emphasizing omni-channel tactics, retail media, and social commerce is vital, fostering brand loyalty and optimizing personalized, efficient consumer experiences in the digital gifting landscape.

Year-round gifting strategies eclipse the conventional Q4 focus, demanding inclusion of diverse occasions like Mother's Day and weddings. Retailers can enhance platforms with AI tools for seamless personalization and leverage growth channels. Emphasis on diverse outreach ensures sustained consumer engagement, operational efficiency, and strategic growth in e-commerce gifting markets.

Forecasted to hit $324.5 billion by 2024, the U.S. gift card market is experiencing a robust 17.7% annual growth. Digital evolution, corporate integration, and consumer preference for flexible options drive this expansion.

Digital gift cards spearhead advancements, enriching ecommerce with personalization opportunities, while addressing challenges like fraud and evolving regulatory landscapes.

Influencer Corner 📣

THAT TikTok Ban in the USA: A Marketer’s Crisis or Opportunity?

If you read this article for any reason today, let it be to watch John Oliver's take on the #TikTokBan in the US📵🤳🏼... Oh, and to understand the implications for #digitalmarketing folk, obviously. 🤔 Sadly, no example TikToks from me during the pandemic feature in this article... what a time to be alive!

Alex Lieberman on LinkedIn: I’m running this marketing plan for all of my businesses in 2025.

I'm running this marketing plan for all of my businesses in 2025.

It is a must if you're in B2B, but i think it can also work for B2C.

Tactic 1: SME-driven content motion (which we run for biz's at storyarb)

Step 1 - Identify your market of one (read: ICP).
Step 2 - Identify subject matter experts that have unique insights your ICP cares about.
Step 3 - Interview SME for 60 minutes about a specific tactic that led to a big success.
Step 4 - Turn SME interview into (email-gated) site playbook.
Step 5 - Weekly editorial newsletter (combo of SME playbook + curated industry content).
Step 6 - Weekly exec/company social to drive traffic to playbook & newsletter.

Performance Pulse 📈

Identify and resolve six common Google Ads pitfalls to boost ecommerce success:

  • Misjudging performance

  • Mismanaging bids

  • Neglecting prioritization

  • Products too niche

  • Conversion tracking errors

  • Outdated campaign structures

Strategic adjustments can dramatically enhance campaign efficacy and revenue, leading to sustainable growth and achieving six-figure targets.

The article outlines crucial international SEO strategies to enhance website visibility across multiple regions. Key practices include optimizing URL structures using subdirectories, subdomains, or country-code top-level domains.

These strategies ensure targeted search engine presentation, catering to both multi-regional and multilingual audiences for strategic expansion and competitive advantage in global markets.

Influencer Marketing

📍 New York City, NY

Global Marketing

📍 Los Angeles, CA

Marketing & Comms

 📍 Austin, TX, USA

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