Gift cards continue to be the most requested gift
item for 2008 according to NRF's Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey conducted by BIG Rearch. Gift cards
topped consumer wish lists with 54.9% of surveyed adults over 18 indicating they would like to receive a gift card as a gift.
Birthdays top the list of occasions to give gift cards leading
consumers to buy gift cards year-round. The survey showed 68 percent of consumers bought at least one gift card as a birthday
gift while 61 percent bought at least one gift card as a Christmas/Hanukkah gift. Graduation, wedding, Mother's Day and Father's
Day were among other occasions favored by consumers to purchase gift cards. It was also observed many gift cards were
purchased as "thank you" gifts of for "no special occasion".
Gift cards continue to increase in popularity as the number and variety of specialty and discount retailers jumping
on the gift card band wagon continues to grow.
In
the past 12 months nine out of 10 American adults either purchased or received a gift card representing a significant increase
from prior years.
Teens have embraced the gift
card market faster than any other age segment. A survey of teens indicated 98 percent of them have either bought or received
a gift card.
88 percent of gift card purchasers
bought more than one card. Consumers who purchased single retailer cards bought an average of five cards in a 12 month period.
The average amount spent on a card was $53.00 up from $46.00. The average gift card recipient spent an additional
$29.00 over the original value of the card.
The
primary reason for the growing number of consumers purchasing gift cards is the fact they allow recipients to choose the gift
they really want. A marketing professional concurred: Consumers look at a $50 gift card and think, 'I can get a $75.00
item and it only cost me $25.00." As such recipients view gift cards as helping them to attain the ideal gift at
a cheap price while the gift give things, "I gave you the means to buy that thing" (72 percent).
Other reasons sited for consumers purchasing cards include ease and convenience
of purchase (43 percent), simple redemption (38 percent), and gift cards being a fast and easy solution of what to purchase
(33 percent).
