On various occasions gifts are exchanged, some might seem familiar to you, and some very weird. Gifting has been in societies for thousands of years, it has been embedded in our culture surprisingly long ago. Homo Sapiens started giving each other gifts made of special rocks and animal pelts. The oldest to have ever been recorded by science was an engraved Reindeer Antler. It is said to be approximately 12,000 years old.

Today giving out a gift is supposed to represent love, care, and affection towards another. But presents are not only common between people, they are also common between countries and states. For example, the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States which started as a project in 1865 by a French political thinker. It was designed by a French sculptor and was built by the one and only Gustave Eiffel. This means gifts are also a mean to develop relationships between states, to represent peace, and alliance.
Back to personal gifting, some presents might be considered unique gifts to some cultures. In Britain, it is very common to gift Lottery tickets. In Arab countries, it is common to gift gold bars and coins. In the old days, cash gifts were very uncommon. Today on the contrary, it is very common to give out cash in the form of gift cards.

Because the evolution of the gifting industry has evolved constantly in the past years, companies and start-ups have emerged that specialize in gifts. What is interesting about the gifting industry is that it is a year-round industry, with some peaks during national holidays (ex. Christmas). Black Friday and Boxing day generate more than half of their revenue from gift purchases. Therefore, start-ups have also involved themselves to revolutionize the gifting industry. It’s NERD, an e-commerce store, has dedicated itself to curate niche collections of birthday gifts for her, him, and more. Some other shops specialize in the same industry but have their focus on more classic gifts. It’s NERD took a bold move by focusing and promoting only innovative technology that are useful to make everyday tasks simpler.
Corporate Gifting is also very common today. Last year only, it has reached a revenue of over 125B USD$.

All that meaning, gifting has evolved into many forms throughout the years, and has evolved constantly with human progress. From stones to the Statue of Liberty and high tech.

It is still evolving and is exciting to see what people will gift each other in the future.