7 ms·

I think the main reason it's unsolved is that there's a lot of personalization that needs to happen. If you (as a son, let's say), can't figure out what to give

I think the main reason it's unsolved is that there's a lot of personalization that needs to happen. If you (as a son, let's say), can't figure out what to give your dad, how can a site? The reason why a lot of holiday guides give common or useless stuff is because they have to generalize across age ranges, ethnicities, locations, and preferences. The best gift guide would also probably be one that gets to the core of what you are lacking -- you might want a specific book, for example, but what you're looking for is how to learn a language, and that specific book didn't really matter (unless it was the best one to help you learn). This is really hard to do though, unless you are Santa.

fpgaminer 10y ago
Yes, that's definitely true, it's not a simple task by any stretch of the imagination. I think the experience gifts is perhaps a more viable option. For example, a mystery dinner type deal (mystery theater + dinner) I think is a good gift for a lot of friends and family. Cooking classes are pretty general too. I've been gifted cooking classes before and they were really fun (they focus on making it date night sort of deal so it was geared towards couples). But both of those I've had challenges gifting. I couldn't find any well reviewed mystery dinner type deals, and the few good cooking class type things I found did not offer a gifting option. Buying tickets to events, like concerts, is tough too, again because they don't generally offer gift options. If I could buy a "blank check" sort of ticket to the local playhouse, that'd be nice. My big gripe is the sites that get mostly there. They ask questions about the intended recipient, like age, gender, and tastes. At the end of it, though, the recommendations are really bland. I don't mind sorting through a list of possible gifts, with only a few good results. But the results I get are the kind of generic "gifts" you see on the end-caps of Kohl's during holiday season. As I mentioned, people generally already have what they need. Gifting often comes down to finding something the person wouldn't have otherwise thought about. So it's necessary to show unique options. Again, the accuracy doesn't need to be terribly high. If I only find one good option amongst 40, that's fine. Instead I get 200+ kitchen stand mixers...
hahajk 10y ago
Well if Spotify can figure out what I want to listen better than I can it's not unreasonable to think that Amazon or maybe my credit card could figure out my tastes better than my parents could.

fpgaminer 10y ago

Yes, that's definitely true, it's not a simple task by any stretch of the imagination. I think the experience gifts is perhaps a more viable option. For example, a mystery dinner type deal (mystery theater + dinner) I think is a good gift for a lot of friends and family. Cooking classes are pretty general too. I've been gifted cooking classes before and they were really fun (they focus on making it date night sort of deal so it was geared towards couples). But both of those I've had challenges gifting. I couldn't find any well reviewed mystery dinner type deals, and the few good cooking class type things I found did not offer a gifting option. Buying tickets to events, like concerts, is tough too, again because they don't generally offer gift options. If I could buy a "blank check" sort of ticket to the local playhouse, that'd be nice. My big gripe is the sites that get mostly there. They ask questions about the intended recipient, like age, gender, and tastes. At the end of it, though, the recommendations are really bland. I don't mind sorting through a list of possible gifts, with only a few good results. But the results I get are the kind of generic "gifts" you see on the end-caps of Kohl's during holiday season. As I mentioned, people generally already have what they need. Gifting often comes down to finding something the person wouldn't have otherwise thought about. So it's necessary to show unique options. Again, the accuracy doesn't need to be terribly high. If I only find one good option amongst 40, that's fine. Instead I get 200+ kitchen stand mixers...

hahajk 10y ago

Well if Spotify can figure out what I want to listen better than I can it's not unreasonable to think that Amazon or maybe my credit card could figure out my tastes better than my parents could.