TLDR: In the £40B+ UK gifting and occasions market, success depends on owning “life moments” through personalisation, loyalty, and cross-sell. Currently, Not On The High Street tops the league table (712) with strong SEO and brand-led direct traffic, emphasising sustainability and mindful gifting; Moonpig follows closely (710), excelling in Paid Search and steady, partnership-driven marketing; and Funky Pigeon, now part of Card Factory, is leaning into emotional storytelling and omni-channel strength with its “Give a Funk” rebrand. The ASK BOSCO® Index helps brands see where they stand and uncover opportunities to grow market share.
What is the ASK BOSCO® Index?
The ASK BOSCO® Index is the competitive scoring system within the ASK BOSCO® Competitor Benchmarking feature that allows you to compare your online performance against your closest competitors within your sector. Think of it as the credit score of digital marketing, which has been developed by our marketers to determine the most impactful metrics to measure.
How is the ASK BOSCO® index measured?
You and your competitors are ranked against four key categories: Paid Search, SEO, Other Digital Marketing, and Website Health. You’ll receive a combined score (your Overall ASK BOSCO® Index Score), as well as individual scores for each category. The platform pulls out insights from these scores to uncover opportunities to grow your market share.
An ASK BOSCO® Index score of 400-600 indicates good performance compared to your competitors. Scores above 600 signify exceptional performance, while scores below 400 suggest room for improvement.
What does the gifting and occasions industry currently look like?
The online gifting and occasion industry is growing but consolidating. The UK gifting market alone is worth £40+ billion annually, with £24 billion in the card-attached gifting segment (where a card is bought alongside a gift).
Despite being different primary categories, this is an umbrella industry, which is about products and experiences tied to specific life moments (birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, seasonal holidays, milestones).
Big players such as Moonpig and Funky Pigeon are tightening their grip on the market, but curated marketplaces such as Not On The High Street are winning on uniqueness, storytelling, and sustainability. The battle is shifting toward data-driven loyalty, personalisation, and cross-sell – sector success comes down to whoever “owns the calendar of life moments”.
Who tops the ASK BOSCO® gifting & occasions league table?
Not On The High Street
Topping the table with a solid score of 712, NOTHS owe a lot of their score to their organic performance. According to SimilarWeb, as of August 2025, their website sees 2.1 million visits per month, with traffic up 6.26% MoM. Within the individual categories, they top the ASK BOSCO® Index in the SEO category with a score of 727.
Direct traffic is their largest traffic share; a strong direct share is a sign of brand awareness, people typing “not on the high street” or bookmarking the site. But reliance on direct and organic can often mean less incremental growth from newer channels.
Despite being a gifting retailer, NOTHS puts a lot of focus on landfill and sustainability, using the tagline “Gift fewer, gift better.” They often use out-of-home and digital OOH to call out wasteful gifting, and have previously created ‘products’ such as “Not A Candle” or “Not A Mug” which are actually charitable donations, to encourage mindful gifting and reduce waste around the festive period.
Moonpig
Coming in a close second is Moonpig, only two points behind NOTHS. In their 2025 results, Moonpig’s leadership team emphasised that marketing is more “optimised” – leveraging partnerships, social media, and creative content rather than just big media spends. They intend to maintain a steady drumbeat of marketing (rather than sporadic bursts) across channels to sustain visibility. Partnerships / co-marketing are explicitly cited as a lever.
Within the Paid Search category of ASK BOSCO® Index, which analyses traffic, share and value, Moonpig lead with a score of 724.
Funky Pigeon
One of the biggest developments this year is that Funky Pigeon was acquired by Card Factory (from WHSmith). This purchase gives them stronger backing, integration with a larger omni-channel retail presence, and potentially more resources for marketing and scale.
Their latest rebrand and refresh campaign, called “Give a Funk”, seeks to push more personalised, heartfelt gifting (rather than perfunctory/generic cards) through more emotional storytelling, animated content, and social-first assets.
If you’d like to learn more about the ASK BOSCO® competitor benchmarking feature and other functionality within the ASK BOSCO® platform – or if you’d just like us to rank your brand on the Index, please get in touch with the team at team@askbosco.com
