Payments Industry Identity Crisis
GiftCard Partners insights on the 2013 pymnts.com Innovation Project held at Harvard University.
2014 Holiday Gift Card Spending to Top $31 Billion
This year holiday gift card spending on both plastic and digital gift cards will top all previous records with sales expecting to reach over $31 billion! Gift cards have shed their reputation of being impersonal and have emerged as the perfect practical gift item for millions of holiday shoppers and are the most requested holiday gift for the 8th year in a row. Shoppers are expected to spend an average of $47.87 a card, up 6% over last year. Since the
National Retail Federation began tracking customers holiday purchasing intentions in 2003, the total spend on gift cards has increased 83%. “Consumers young and old want to find the best way possible to create a happy holiday experience for their loved ones, and gift cards are a great option every time.” Gift cards are a go-to gift for consumers of all ages; adults 65+ will spend the most on gift cards, while young adults will spend the least. In addition, men will spend almost 10% more than women on gift card purchases. The following charts provide more insight into the 2014 NRF survey results, check out more
here.
About the Survey The NRF 2014 Gift Card Spending Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey polled 6,593 consumers and was conducted for NRF by Prosper Insights & Analytics, November 3-10, 2014. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
Innovation Project 2014: Omni-Channel Payments Thinkathon
We wrote last week about the Innovation Project held at Harvard late last week. The Innovation Project brings together the innovating leaders in the payments and commerce space for a summit that is packed with content and collaboration. Now, we don't like to brag, but our COO was on the winning team for the second straight year. She didn't do it alone however, her team brought together innovative leaders from across the industry. The winning team was a collaborative effort between
GiftCard Partners Participates in the Annual ThinkaThon
Today, the team at GiftCard Partners is participating in the annual ThinkAThon. The 2014
ThinkAThon brings together big brains from all over the payment industry in a competition to solve some of the area’s most puzzling questions. This year’s problem-solving will focus on finding creative solutions within the following areas:
