Elections Today
- Pennsylvania
Recent Projections
| State | Candidate | Delegates |
|---|---|---|
 Donald Trump | ||
Pennsylvania |  Joe Biden |
Make them ooh and aah over gifts made just for them
— -- As the rate of growth in gift card sales slows, retailers and restaurateurs are offering gift givers more personalized ways to show they really care — even if it is with a piece of plastic.
"There was a trend for a while to make gift-giving easy and quick and to get last-minute gift cards, but that became a little bit impersonal," says Laura Evans, head of the retail practice at digital marketing agency Resource Interactive. "Retailers are really looking at ways that they can help a gift-giver become more relevant."
Among the more personal options this year:
At Starbucks, gift cards come with three custom options, including one with the recipient's name and favorite coffee order. The cards are a top seller. "Customization is an inherent part of our customer relationships," says Brad Stevens, Starbucks' marketing vice president. "The technology now is such that we can produce cards on a one-off basis. It's extraordinary and allows you to build a card that's representative of your favorite drink."
•Candy. Hershey's "Build a Gift," which offers custom chocolates with personal messages on them, was such a hit this year that the company can't accept many more orders for Christmas. Current and projected orders "have consumed all of our molded-bar-decorating capacity," says Steven Roberts, general manager of The Hershey Experience, the company's direct-to-consumer division.
•Sneakers. At nikeid.com, visitors can design and personalize more than 100 shoes by choosing from hundreds of colors and styles for laces, soles, thread and shoe fabric combinations. You can even put your own name or saying on the back of the shoe.
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