A 2006 survey showed that nearly 80 percent of Americans would rather receive a card to their favorite retailer than other kind of gift. The research also showed that 91 percent of adults who had received holiday gift cards had redeemed them before the end of February. The survey conducted by Comdata’s Stored Value Systems found that 76 percent of adults purchased gift cards in the 2005 holiday season.
General purpose gift cards enable recipients to buy goods and services from a greater number of merchants than retailer specific cards. The NRF estimates that general purpose gift card sales totaled $5 billion in 2004 (eFunds Corporation 2005).
Another Comdata survey (2006) found that a stunning 95 percent of adults have either received or purchased a gift card, compared to 75 percent in 2005. The two most popular occasions for gift card purchases are still birthdays and the winter holidays. Adult purchasers load each gift card they purchase with an average of $46 – up 21 percent versus the average load in 2003.
A new study has found that more consumers prefer debit cards than any other type of payment for point of sale purchases. This is the first time in study’s history that debit cards exceeded all other payment devices as the overall preferred payment product. “Payment Dynamics 2007 Preferred Payments Study” from TransUnion and Edgar, Dunn & Company found that 29 percent of respondents prefer debit cards versus 26 percent for credit cards.
More businesses are issuing debit cards to their employees for travel expenses. The benefit to the employee is freedom of choice in determining how and where travel expenses are utilized and the benefit to the employer is in insuring a strict travel budget is enforced.
More organizations are now presenting gift cards as an honorarium rather than the traditional can of popcorn or tin of cookies. |
