Some Countries Gift to Celebrate, Others Gift to Care

Not every country reaches for a gift for the same reason. This week, a striking pattern emerged across the top gifting markets: some countries are celebration engines, driven by birthdays and holidays. Others barely register those occasions at all, gifting instead out of care, comfort, and gratitude.

The Netherlands is the clearest example. Its top gifting reasons this week were congratulations (34%), just-because gifts (31%), thank-you gifts (17%), get-well gifts (11%), and sympathy gifts (8%). Not a single birthday or holiday made the list. Meanwhile, in Australia, 61% of all gifts were for birthdays. Same week, same planet, completely different motivations.

In the Netherlands, the top five gifting reasons are all about showing up for someone. Not a single birthday or holiday made the list.

The celebration markets: US, UK, and Australia

Three of the five largest gifting countries this week are powered by occasions. In the United States, 41% of gifts were seasonal, almost entirely Father's Day. Another 27% were birthday gifts. Together, celebrations account for nearly seven in ten American gifts this week.

The UK looks similar on the surface but with different proportions. Birthdays led at 56%, making it the most birthday-concentrated market in the world this week. Seasonal gifting came second at 19%. Friends in the UK are sending premium birthday gifts with playful notes, like groups pooling together for aged port wine.

Australia mirrors the UK pattern with 61% birthday gifting, followed by new baby gifts at 14%. Australian shoppers are celebrating arrivals and milestones rather than riding any seasonal calendar.

The caregiving markets: the Netherlands and Malta

Then there are the countries that gift because someone needs something, not because the calendar says so. The Netherlands is entirely caregiving in character this week. Congratulations and just-because gifts dominate, but what stands out is that get-well and sympathy gifts combined for 19% of Dutch gifting. Nearly one in five Dutch gifts is sent to someone going through a difficult time.

Malta tells its own story through gratitude. Nearly half (47%) of all Maltese gifts this week were thank-you gifts. No other country comes close to that proportion. In Malta, gifting is how people express appreciation, not how they mark dates on a calendar.

These aren't random weeks. The Netherlands and Malta have consistently shown these patterns throughout spring. The data keeps confirming that their gifting cultures are built on care and reciprocity rather than celebration.

Father's Day is reshaping one country's map

With Father's Day next Sunday in North America, the UK, and Ireland, the US gifting mix has tilted heavily toward seasonal occasions. Holiday gifting's share jumped from 11% at baseline to 21% globally this week, but that growth is almost entirely American. The US accounts for 77% of all seasonal gifts worldwide right now.

Children are writing warm, appreciative notes to their fathers and grandfathers. Family members make up 51% of all gifters this week. In the US, some first-time fathers are receiving their very first Father's Day gifts, with notes full of tenderness about this new chapter.

What this means for merchants

Merchants selling internationally need different messaging for different markets. A Father's Day promotion makes perfect sense for US and UK audiences this week. But pushing the same campaign to Dutch or Maltese customers misses the mark entirely.

For stores with Dutch customers, gift note prompts and product pages should speak to care: thinking of you, get well soon, just because. For Maltese audiences, thank-you gifting is the engine. For the UK and Australia, birthday messaging works year-round because birthdays never stop leading.

The merchants who understand these regional rhythms can tailor their gift prompts, homepage messaging, and seasonal campaigns to match what shoppers in each market are actually doing. One global message doesn't fit five gifting cultures.