How Retailers Can Converge Online and Offline Gifting Experiences This Holiday Season

The recipient will receive an email with the personalized gift. To offer a more "online" experience, the recipient has the option to record their reaction to the gift and send it to the gifter, along with an immediate thank-you note. The recipient then fills out the shipping information, correct size and other details. If for whatever reason the recipient doesn't like the gift selected, retailers have the opportunity to share similar items on their site, as well as the price difference, so the recipient can get what they truly want.

"We wanted to bring the offline experience of giving a gift online," says Kochhar. "Not only giving the consumer a seamless experience, but giving the retailer a chance to upsell items and lower shopping cart abandonment rates. We wanted to fight back against the gift card."