Key Takeaways
• Lower Spending: Average per-person gifting dropped to $921 in 2024, reflecting a slower year for non-cash incentives.
• Optimistic Outlook: Nearly 60% of respondents expect budget increases for incentive programs in 2025.
Despite lower spending on incentive programs in 2024, there’s reasons for optimism in the new year, according to the Incentive Research Foundation’s (IRF) latest outlook report.
The IRF is a private, not-for-profit organization focused on research, education and advocacy for non-cash incentives, which include gift cards, event gifting and – most relevant for the promotional products industry – merchandise.
Their annual outlook report relies on data gathered from industry professionals who manage or provide gift card and/or merchandise incentive programs in both North America and Europe.
This year’s look back on 2024 revealed a slower year for companies’ non-cash gift spending, with average per-person gifting down to $921 from $1,060 in North America last year – a trend that aligns with a slower year of growth observed in the promo industry, according to recently released numbers from ASI’s Quarterly Distributor Sales Survey. Specific to merchandise, average spending per instance – as in, for each reward or recognition given out – held steady at $177.
However, despite those numbers, the IRF projects optimism for the coming year, with nearly 6 in 10 North American respondents reporting expected budget increases for incentive programs in 2025.
“After an uneven year, the outlook for 2025 shows signs of improvement,” said Stephanie Harris, IRF president. “We see high rates of economic optimism, budget increases and anticipated increases in the use of merchandise, gift cards, event gifting and experiential rewards.”
Here’s a look at a few more key stats from the report based on the North American incentives market.
