Report: More than Half of U.S. Consumers Don’t Know about Mobile Gift Cards (July 9, 2014)
Gift cards are popular with U.S. consumers, but there’s still room for growth, as many consumers are uninformed about or uncomfortable with mobile gift cards and e-codes, according to research by the Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), a trade association of closed-loop gift card retailers.
While 77 percent of consumers have given a gift card in the past year and 90 percent have received at least one, 54 percent of consumers have not heard of mobile gift cards or e-codes, and only 17 percent of shoppers are “very comfortable” using them. The RGCA consumer gift card study was conducted online in spring 2014 with more than 1,100 adult respondents.
Consumers value the convenience and flexibility of gift cards, and retailers see benefits, too, according to the report. More than 70 percent of respondents reported shopping for themselves when visiting a store or Website to purchase gift cards, and 45 percent of consumers redeeming gift cards spend more than the value of the card.
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