In 2003, the UK market for giftware was worth £4.46bn, representing a marginal increase on the value of the previous year. Key Note defines the giftware market as including toys and games, jewellery, watches, silverware, ceramics, glassware and small leather goods. The sectors with the highest retail values are jewellery - precious jewellery being a popular choice of gift - and toys and games, which are regarded as educational and developmental as well as indulgent on the part of parents.
UK manufacturing in general is already under threat, and each of the sectors of giftware considered in this report suffers from increasing levels of cheap imports, which serve to keep value sales down. The manufacture of ceramics is the only giftware sector where the UK still has a favourable trade balance, and even this is diminishing. UK-based manufacturers are simply unable to compete on a cost basis with manufacturers in the Far East and Eastern Europe. They therefore tend to concentrate on the premium end of the market and have, in some cases, moved their own manufacturing operations overseas.
Recent years have seen thousands of job losses and factory closures, including some from prestigious companies such as Royal Doulton, Waterford Wedgwood, Caithness Glass, Connolly and the Arthur Wood Group. Nevertheless, there are some strong, prestigious and highly coveted brands in the marketplace, produced by luxury goods companies. These companies have weathered economic downturns before and there is every chance that they will do so again, even if it means ruthlessly slimming down their operations.
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