Of course today's extraordinary variety of corporate Christmas gifts harks back to a tradition that goes back many years when milkmen, dustmen and other trades could expect a ‘Christmas box' from employers – and woe betide the employer who forgot or was simply not generous enough!

Buying corporate Christmas gifts – indeed corporate gifts at any time of year – has never been easier with a range of online services available to make the job hassle-free for the time-poor executive – or PA – who has to try and match up the diverse tastes of clients, employees and suppliers with the right gift to create the maximum amount of impact.

Promotional gifts are still popular – mugs, calendars, pens etc – and provide a low cost way not only as that welcome ‘extra touch' of customer service, but as an effective way of advertising your product or service – in fact, as a form of advertising promotional merchandise of any kind has a far longer shelf-life than media advertising.

A search for ‘personalised gifts' online will yield dozens of companies such as Not On The High Street who provide unusual or personalised gifts or the online directory Source Promotional Products, who provide a valuable tool for businesses looking for anything from stationery to trophies for award ceremonies.

The corporate gift market has also provided opportunities for diversification from a surprising range of companies online – Interflora for example have moved away from the purely horticultural to offer a corporate Christmas gifts range including both wine and food hampers (in conjunction with Fine Foods Of The World). Elsewhere the magazine subscription service Let's Subscribe is offering business consumers organic food delivery, fresh coffee and fine wines.

If you really want to make a splash then one of the most preferred customer incentives is travel. So much so that in the USA – always the market leaders in these kind of things – companies like Free Vacation Incentives have popped up to service the growing number of businesses wishing to offer mouth-watering incentives to customers and suppliers.

Ultimately, when it comes to choosing a corporate Christmas gift a variety of factors are going to come into play – how well you know (and like!) the recipient, budget and what exactly you want from the relationship: when it comes to winning or maintaining a big contract it pays to be generous at Christmas time.

However, getting the right gift is essential – get it wrong and you could be creating problems for your company in the year ahead. That's why playing it safe, with gifts of food, wine or flowers can often be the best policy.