Colorful dragon-shaped fridge magnets are displayed during the China Beijing International Gifts, Premium & Houseware Exhibition in Beijing in March. CHINA DAILY

"We used to design and create customized toy products for the capital's iconic tourist sites. We were bestsellers but in small quantities. Now, the gifts sector presents a larger and newer market," said Liu Yang, a professor of industrial design at Beijing University of Technology and founder of Beijing Huaxin Yichuang Industrial Design Co Ltd.

"Chinese consumers have always had a fondness for traditional Chinese culture. It's the modern design, craftsmanship, and new material that make traditional Chinese intellectual property and cultural products more appealing to today's youth," said Liu.

Shen of RX Huabo said that gifts are no longer about just adding a company logo or commemorating traditional festivals.

The innovation and added-value infused into the gift receive the most recognition, she said.

An increasing number of giftware companies have expanded their business by incorporating more design elements and offering customized designs for customers.

"When it comes to gifts, it's about delving into the corporate core values and cultural systems and fusing them with designs and productions," said Liu, who has called for setting up a platform during gift industry exhibitions for designers to gather and exchange innovations and stimulate the applications of these IPs.

Another new trend this year is more visibility among companies promoting pet-related products.

Shen said that, due to the increasing trend of viewing pets as life companions, potential customers are often pleasantly surprised when they receive pet accessories as gifts rather than gifts for themselves.

Additionally, a surge in the population of singles has resulted in less procurement of food ingredients such as oil, rice, or flour, and an increase in purchases of dairy and ready-to-cook products, she said.

The gifts industry in China is mainly operated by small and-medium sized companies, with relatively small-sized orders in both value and quantity.