Wait a minute – The Economics of buying a gift
If we look at the good gift from an economical point of view, it seems to me that all good gifts have at least one thing in common: A Good gift is more valuable for the receiver then for the giver of the gift. If person A goes out and buy something, for himself, he would evaluate the price of the product and compare it to his own evaluation of the product. We do this everyday, and it is second nature for most people regarding most products.
But, the picture changes immediately after person A is going to find the perfect gift to person B. Now he can’t use his own evaluation of the products value since he now just acts as the middleman in the transaction between the sell and person B. Therefor he is forced to try an anticipate how person B will evaluate the value of the product and if that value is higher or lower than the actual price of the product. Since it is a gift, and the content of gifts are normally intended to be a secret he cannot just ask for the information from person B, so he is left with two options: either he can ask for a wishing list or use his imagination and risk not being able to anticipate the needs of Person B.
These two different approaches to the art of gift buying are roughly comparable to two different approaches to how a company does product development. It can either do an existence market research, the wish list, or the company can approach the market as an entrepreneur and look for the gift that is equivalent to the creative destruction of the gift-giving-market.
Another perspective, of the perfect gift, is how the gift is a medium in a communication between the giver and the receiver. The gift tells the receiver different things, such as how well the giver knows her.
Finding the perfect gift is all about information and market signals. The more information the giver has about the receiver, the greater the chance is that he will be able to find that perfect gift. Creating some common rule for all gift-giving scenarios is of course, imposable but I would suggest that this year everyone should challenge him or herself and ignore the wish list, try something new and look for that perfect gift that will create more value for the receiver then what they paid for it.
