Strong gift card awareness reported by Chase Paymentech

More than half of Americans are planning to buy the same number of gift cards as they bought last year while some are going to buy even more. The results of a survey commissioned to provide insight into consumers’ attitudes towards gift cards were recently announced by Chase Paymentech.

The survey of 850 American adults showed that gift card popularity remains significantly high with 9 in 10 respondents having received or purchased a gift card. Besides, the study revealed that 2/3 of the polled bought at least one gift card within the past 12 months. The same number of cards is planned to be purchased by 55% while 21% are planning to buy more. Shoppers also plan to load either the same amount (55%) or more (21%) funds on those cards.

In addition the study discovered typical habits of consumers on how they use their gift cards. Usually they spend more the amount of the gift card when they are redeemed. 85% of the customers add an average of $17.70 out of their own wallets. 82% of them also confessed that a discount for the purchaser's use when buying the gift card would make them somewhat or much more likely to purchase gift cards. 61% of the respondents said that free specialized gift packaging for cards is a strong purchase motivator as well.