Rise in search for gift cards

Gift cards are becoming increasingly popular and acceptable which is just as well because, according to recent Hitwise figures, there are a lot of people searching for them online.

by Helen Leggatt

Recent data from Hitwise shows searches related to gift cards rose 14 percent in the four weeks to 15, December, compared to the same period in 2006. Meanwhile, traffic to the top 100 online retailers was up 12 percent for the same period last year.

From recent reports it appears that 2007 is the year that gift cards became socially acceptable, with searches across the year up 19 percent. And, as if giving a gift card wasn’t easy enough in the imagination stakes the most generic of gift cards – Visa and American Express – were the most searched-for brands. The onus of choice placed on the recipient.

“Consumers are looking for the gift cards which are more universally accepted across a variety of merchants, such as Visa or American Express, to provide recipients with the options to spend their cards wherever they need, which this year could include necessities like groceries or gas,” said Heather Dougherty, director of research.

How about a medical gift card? That’s right, give the gift of life – literally. An American health insurance company has launched a gift card that can be used to pay for anything ranging from a doctor’s fee to plastic surgery.

Perhaps consumers are playing it safe and making their gifts more practical and less frivolous, knowing that $20 of gas may be of better use than $20 of aftershave.

What next? “In order to maximize convenience for both the giver and the recipient, maybe next season we'll see "online direct deposit gift cards." We're all busy people after all, and it's not the gift that really matters. It's the thought that counts,” writes Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise, in an entertaining Time.com article earlier this month.