Card Manufacturer Finds Simpler Cards, but More Outlets in Review of Gift Card Trends

Despite all of this, the gift cards still remain at the top ofpeople’s holiday wish lists, and the dollars loaded onto cardscontinue to increase year-over-year. It seems consumers are mostconcerned with the value of the card. When Mercator Advisory Groupasked gift card buyers about their interest in gift card perks, thetop three concepts that resonated with customers were free shippingfor online purchases, cards that return funds to the holder if theywent unused for a long period of time, and cards accepted atmultiple retailers.The value of 3-D packing and special holders did not rate highly inMercator’s survey. The value of different card designs on the otherhand was not part of our questions. So it is hard to determine thevalue of things like lenticular cards and multiple designs, butanecdotally Mercator has heard from issuers that multiple designsmake a difference, especially around the holidays.

As closed-loop issuers gear up for the holiday season, they shouldexamine what factors have influenced their gift card sales in thepast, and what their competitors are doing to stand out when itcomes to gift cards. Although planning and production on cardsneeds to happen early, that is no reason for an issuer not toinnovate and come up with new strategies for reachingcustomers.

If you need more information on the study,you can contact Martha Weaver, Marketing Manager at Travel Tags at651-288-8470 or [email protected].