In March 2011, First Data published their 2010 Consumer Insights Gift Card Survey Results. If you're involved in the gift card industry, this is a great study and a worthwhile read.
Below are four points I found interesting:
1. Gift Card Design Is Not A Huge Selling Point
This seems to counter the trend of merchant's offering several gift card designs to consumers. In fact, only 1/10 consumers said they would not buy the gift card if they did not like the design.
2. "Gift Card Malls" Gain In Popularity
While this was not a surprise, the rate at which gift card malls are increasing in popularity (while eating away at the merchant's direct sales channel) was more surprising to me. If the trends continue, gift card malls will be the preferred method for purchasing gift cards.
3. Number Of Gift Cards Received Increased
On average, consumers received 3.4 gift cards in 2010. That's up from 2009's number of 2.9 gift cards received. I expect this trend to continue given the fact merchants are utilizing gift cards to pay consumers for goods.
4. Consumers Tend To Redeem Their Gift Cards Within 6 Months
Using a gift card sooner than later is one of the simplest things consumers can do to be smart with gift cards. It's great to see most people are finding a way to redeem their gift cards within 6 months of receiving them. The bottom three colors of the graph below indicate those who redeem within 6 months.
Again, I highly recommend taking a look at the full study. There are a lot of great insights into the world of gift cards. Cheers to the folks at first data for putting this together.
