The
Retail Gift Card Association recently released a study of 1,000 consumer opinions surrounding gift cards, how they are used, how they are gifted to others, and how consumers view them overall. While consumers are still practical about how they spend the balance, with only 30.6% indicating they would use the balance for a "slurge" purchase, consumers use gift cards and covet receiving them. Here are some of the most compelling facts from the
RGCA survey.
- 73.2% prefer to give a retail gift card when giving a gift from a group of people. Group gifting is conducive to gift card giving because it is easy to split the balance, and pooling resources to give an enhanced amount can be more meaningful, allowing the recipient to choose more of what they are looking for.
- 88.5% redeem a retail gift card within 6 months of receiving
- 87.7% spend the same amount, or more than the amount of the retail gift card- making gift cards a win/win for consumers and retailers who could view gift cards as a sales driver
- 50.9% like GIVING retail gift cards because they are convenient
- 84.6% like RECEIVING retail gift cards because they can purchase what they want
High consumer confidence and the large scale adoption indicated in this survey proves the strength of gift cards for group gifts, individual gifts, or incentive situations where you want to ensure the recipient of the incentive program is satisfied with their reward. For more information on the Retail Gift Card Association's survey check out the
full press release. For more information on how to utilize the strength of gift cards, get in touch with the GiftCard Partners team.
