Study: Look for more gift cards this summer

Graduation, Father’s Day, summer weddings. All gift-giving occasions and according to new data out from RCGA many of those gifts will be of the card variety. The gift card. Their recent survey found at least 70% of gifts for the upcoming spring and summer season will be in the form of gift cards.

“Large-scale retail trends, like movement towards omnichannel and increasing awareness of digital offerings, continue to be reflected in consumers’ use of gift cards,” said Timm Walsh, RGCA Chairman of the Board. “And our biannual research has confirmed again that shoppers still consider gift cards to be safe, preferred gift choices. This spring and summer season should bring increased sales of this favored gift product.”

It isn’t just gifters who prefer giving gift cards. The research shows nearly all (95%) of those receiving gifts for a special occasion this summer are hoping for a gift card. Other interesting findings from the report include:

• 82% of shoppers say they’ll gift more gift cards this spring/summer than last year
• 80% of gift card givers want recipients to have redemption options of both online and in-store
• 56% plan to give gift cards exclusively
• The most common amounts are $25 and $50

As for the type of gift cards most given, 47% prefer to gift restaurant cards while 30% give department store cards and 29% give online cards like Amazon.