Skip to main content

Experience new growth possibilities with Microsoft Advertising today >

Insight

Graduation gift trends

March 31, 2022
A woman holds a gift and a bag while a man looks at her expectantly.

Graduation season is almost upon us, and this year 32% of consumers plan on buying gifts for high school and college graduates.1 Microsoft Advertising Insights is expecting gift card searches to ramp at the end of April, with an anticipated rise of 50% on average.2 This year also presents a giant opportunity for photo cards, with forecasts predicting searches to rise by an average of 204% and clicks by an average of 258%.

Searches are also expected to rise for categories such as jewelry engraving and dresses. As graduation parties become top of mind for consumers, beer and snack food searches are expected to rise by an average of 28% and 9%, respectively. For your upcoming campaigns, be sure to utilize Responsive Search Ads, which adapt your text ads to closely match what someone is searching for, increasing clicks by +17% on average.3

For top searched queries during past Graduation seasons, as well as additional tips and tricks to maximize your budget, download the full insights.

[1] NRF's Annual 2021 Graduation Spending Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The 2021 survey of 7,971 US adults 18 and older was conducted May 3-11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
[2] Microsoft internal data; 2019-2022.
[3] Microsoft internal data from 2/9/21-4/10/21.

Recommended for you

Blog post

Is in-store buying making a comeback?

Consumers are returning in-store shopping as the number of in-store shoppers is growing year over year. Boost your foot traffic with our shopping trends and search insights.

November 22, 2021

Two people stand in a home kitchen looking at a shopping website on a laptop computer.

Blog post

Retail holiday outlook: Apparel and Consumer Packaged Goods

Expect large growth for Apparel and Consumer Packaged Goods in the upcoming months.

November 08, 2021

Blog post

Gifting done differently: 5 tips to reach the new consumer

Learn how the shift to eCommerce is affecting gift shopping. Get tips for retail advertising on how to best reach consumers in their customer journey.

May 24, 2021