Brits are set to spend £240 million by 2022 on gift subscription services after an influx of demand in lockdown

Almost everyone has celebrated a significant occasion in lockdown, resulting in the demand for online gifts to surging by 50% in 2020. 

Subscription boxes searches jumped 31% in 2020. A popular staple in the pandemic; this trend is only expected to rise. Brits are set to spend as much as £240 million on gift subscription boxes by 2022.

 Due to the rising popularity of online gifts, Packaging Online have researched the most popular online gift purchases loved ones were treated to in lockdown.

During lockdown, 71% of weddings were postponed, yet around 80,000 couples still got hitched. Over the past 12 months, millions of people celebrated Zoom birthdays, baby showers, engagements and more; even the pandemic didn’t stop Brits from celebrating.

Valentine’s day was one of the most popular celebrations for sending lockdown gifts. More than one in five Brits sent a Valentine’s Day gift by post in 2021. An additional one in ten said they were more likely to send a gift due to lockdown restrictions.

Food gifts were the most in-demand lockdown gifts with a whopping 427% increase of searches, specifically chocolate, cheese and vegan treats being the most popular. Unsurprisingly, interest in food gifts doubled around Christmas compared to any other occasion. The table below shows the top 10 lockdown gifts:

As pubs were shut for most of the year, interest in buying drink gifts online tripled over lockdown. Google searches for alcohol gifts jumped by 30% in April 2020 compared to the year before. Gin gift sets were the most popular option to send over lockdown, with 33,100 purchases a month.