Gift Cards Continue to Grow
Our RetailWire discussion of the week covers holiday gift cards whose sales are expected to surge by 25% this year (last year they jumped by 55%).
This is not too surprising considering their popularity for both consumers (because they're so convenient for both the giver and the recepient) and retailers (because of users end up buying more than the card's face value and create store traffic.
Additional factors in their success - availability at other retail sites, such as supermarkets, advanced POS software for card processing, overall acceptance of the cards as legitimate presents, fewer returns and exchanges.
Posted by Universal Ad
This is not too surprising considering their popularity for both consumers (because they're so convenient for both the giver and the recepient) and retailers (because of users end up buying more than the card's face value and create store traffic.
Additional factors in their success - availability at other retail sites, such as supermarkets, advanced POS software for card processing, overall acceptance of the cards as legitimate presents, fewer returns and exchanges.
The study also found that:
- The average U.S. family will spend an estimated $184 on gift cards this holiday season
- Gift-card fraud has been an issue but retailers are rolling out better technology to thwart it
- Roughly 56% are redeemed within the first month of being purchased
- Gift cards issued by banks which can be redeemed anywhere are expected to post the biggest gains
- Men tend to buy gift cards earlier in the season than women
Posted by Universal Ad
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