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Note to media: Click here for sample charts and graphs and a full report of the survey.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Ellen Tolley Davis or Scott Krugman (202) 783-7971
Email: davise@nrf.com or krugmans@nrf.com
www.nrf.com/holidays
Gift Card Sales to Surge Again this
Popularity Increases, According to NRF
--Consumers to Spend a Total of $18.48
Billion on Gift Cards This
“Gift cards present a win-win situation for both consumers and retailers,” said
Tracy Mullin, NRF President and CEO. “Gift cards take the guesswork out of
giving and since they take up minimal shelf space, they are easy for retailers
to stock and display.”
With their popularity at an all-time high, gift cards have made an appearance
on the lists of both gift givers and receivers. More than two-thirds (75.5%) of
consumers polled said that they plan on purchasing at least one gift card, and
more than half (52.3%) of consumers would like to receive gift cards this
holiday season.
“The popularity of gift cards is
soaring among consumers of all ages,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of
Strategy for BIGresearch. “Once seen as a quick solution to a last minute
present, gift cards have moved to the forefront as a holiday favorite to both
give and receive.”
Gift card information:
- NRF encourages consumers to shop smart for
gift cards. To ensure that a recipient receives the card’s full value,
shoppers should only buy gift cards from reputable retailers (not
online auction sites). Gift cards on online auction sites are more
likely to be counterfeit or obtained through fraudulent means.
Additionally, consumers should keep their original receipt with the value
of the card that they purchased in case there are any problems with the
card when it is redeemed.
- Retailers do not count a gift card as a sale
when it is purchased—instead, they wait until the gift card is redeemed
and merchandise is exchanged. As a result, some of the $18.48 billion
spent on gift cards this holiday may not show up in "holiday"
sales, but instead as sales in January or February, when the gift card is
redeemed.
- Most of today's gift cards differ from
traditional gift certificates because they are "stored value"
cards. When a consumer spends $25 from a $50 gift card, the card
automatically updates the balance. This is more efficient than the retailer
reissuing another gift certificate to the consumer for the balance.
- Retailers have different policies for gift
cards. Some stores' gift cards expire over a certain period of time
(usually 12 months or more) and some stores' cards depreciate month-by-month
if a card has been inactive for a certain period of time. Most retailers
are moving away from expiration dates and depreciation fees in response to
their customers’ requests, but NRF recommends that consumers understand
individual retailers' policies before purchasing gift cards.
- Service fees and expiration dates are more
common with mall-issued and bank-issued gift cards than retailer-issued
cards.
- Due to improved technology, some retailers are
able to reissue a lost gift card if consumers have kept the original
purchase receipt. Some retailers also encourage gift card recipients to
register their card through the store's website, which enables them to
check their balance online and receive a new card if they lose or misplace
the original card.
- Another convenience factor is that many stores
are able to carry gift cards at their check-out counters because today's
gift cards are not active until scanned. Also, many retailers like grocery
stores and drug stores carry a variety of different gift cards at their
registers--for movie theaters, coffee shops, and clothing stores.
NRF continues to forecast that holiday sales will increase 5.0 percent this
year to $435.3 billion.
About the Survey
The NRF 2005 Holiday
Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer
behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey, which
polled 7,128 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 2 –
BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence
firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing
very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and
Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month
to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a
fragmented and changing marketplace. www.bigresearch.com
The National Retail
Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership
that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including
department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain
restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key
trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with
more than 1.4 million
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