Why Uncommon Goods is your gift-giving secret weapon amid Amazon burnout and tariffs

"What the Amazons and even Etsys of the world are currently missing is the sense of curation that defines Uncommon Goods, an online shop stocked with exclusive, offbeat items sourced from independent artisans. It's a cheat code for gift givers-mostly signals, very little noise. Each click is a potential epiphany, connecting me to, say, smartphone-controlled paper airplanes for my nephew, or wooden wall art shaped like a soundwave from my wife's favorite song."

""As gift experts, we spend most of our time scouring the internet, visiting brick-and-mortar shops, and attending trade shows in search of gifts that sit right at the edge of practical and whimsical, with standout quality and value," says Hannah Morrill, Wirecutter's gifts editor. "We've noticed that Uncommon Goods tends to prioritize unique products from small makers that we haven't seen before-that's pretty rare from a large-scale online retailer.""

"The early darkness in most of the U.S. means that fall has set in. That also means it's officially holiday shopping season. With the economic impact of President Trump's ever-fluctuating tariffs an open question, there's an opportunity for shoppers to make their spending meaningful, which opens up a lane for companies that are offering something other than the e-commerce onslaught of nearly identical products that populate sites like Amazon and Walmart."

Early fall marks the start of holiday shopping and creates an opportunity for shoppers to make spending meaningful amid uncertainty from ever-fluctuating tariffs. Uncommon Goods offers curated, exclusive, offbeat items sourced from independent artisans, providing distinctive gift options that contrast with mass e-commerce marketplaces. Each curated product can connect buyers to novel, personal gifts, such as smartphone-controlled paper airplanes or wooden wall art shaped like a favorite song's soundwave. The company's inventory helped grow revenue about 25% annually from 2000 to 2020 and generated more than a million orders per year in recent years. Curators seek gifts balancing practicality, whimsy, quality, and value.

Read at Fast Company