The study uncovers the fact that 44% of consumers visit a store they would not have visited otherwise because of a gift card, and 53% are likely to visit a store more often as the result of receiving a gift card.
Other key findings of the report:
Digital gift card popularity is on the rise: consumers purchased an average of 6.5 physical gift cards on annual basis (5.9 in 2016, 5.5 in 2015, and 4.7 in 2014). In the three prior years, the average number of digital gift cards purchased stayed at approximately 4.0 per consumer. This year, that number surged, and consumers purchased an average of 6.1 digital gift cards per person.
One trend worth watching is mobile gift card apps. This year 52% had used one, and millennials outpaced total respondents with 65% having used an app to purchase a gift card.
Consumers prefer shopping for gift cards at gift card “malls”: 47% of consumers purchased a gift card at a gift card “mall” (i.e. places that sell many different types of gift cards for a number of different stores), surpassing purchases made in a physical retail stores for the first time (44%).
Generations agree on gift card incentives: 42% of respondents said their preferred incentive for purchasing a gift card was a discount dollar amount. With value top of mind, the next preferred incentive was a bonus gift card with the purchase of card (31%), followed by a free item with purchase (12%), and then a bonus amount added to the card (8%).
The 2017 Prepaid Consumer Insights Study released by First Data is based on the responses of more than 2,000 US consumers. For more information about this company, please check out a detailed profile in our dedicated, industry-specific online company database.
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