The Shifting Value of Gift Cards
Luxury retailers will be singing the blues rather than Christmas carols if U.S. retail analysts’ predictions about holiday gift-giving come true.
According to a new report, the economic downturn is expected to trigger a swing toward such practical booty as gas cards, gift certificates for groceries, gift cards for quick-service restaurants and prepaid credit cards.
This would see consumers swapping shopping malls for drugstores, banks and food outlets. Sales in the non-traditional gift card category are forecast to grow 30 per cent over last year.
According to the Archstone Consulting report, which is based on responses from an online panel of 1,000 consumers, the restaurant and fast food category will sell more gift cards than any other niche this holiday season.
“Going out to dinner used to be something you did without thinking twice,” says Michael Unger, a principal at Archstone. “But for some demographics now, that’s more of a luxury, so a gift card for a restaurant would likely be very appreciated.”
The most desired gift cards among consumers, however, were found to be prepaid credit cards that allow recipients the “flexibility to purchase household needs at the gas station, supermarket or pharmacy.”
What your recession-fearing loved ones say they want now, however, and what they’ll hope to see under the tree Christmas morning could be two very different things.
“I think it’s easy for people answering these surveys in September or October to rationalize this decision and say ‘Oh yeah, it would be great to get a gas or grocery card. That would really help me,’” says Antonia Mantonakis, who teaches a class on consumer behaviour at Ontario’s Brock University. “But at Christmas, when we have these really deeply ingrained social, symbolic, and cultural norms of gift-giving, gift cards for basic necessities would more likely make people upset.”
Even recipients who would be helped by such presents might find them too far removed from their usual holiday expectations.
“The more the social norm is present, and the less evident the economic norms of the day, the better people will feel,” says Mantonakis, an assistant professor of marketing. “I would rather you bring a bottle of wine to dinner than give me $20 to cover your portion of the meal.”
Because this type of gift-giving is so new, Winnipeg-based etiquette maven Lew Bayer says there are no hard-and-fast rules. But she thinks people considering this route ought to proceed with caution.
“Even though this is something people can use, they tend to be insulted by it . . . It might come across as if (the giver) is saying, ‘I know you’re hard-up these days, so here’s some money for groceries,’” says Bayer, executive director of civilityexperts.com.
“Oftentimes people say they want something practical when the reality is that they really want to combine all those gift cards and buy a Wii.”
