Gift Cards Dominate Holiday Season

More than four out of five survey respondents (82 percent) said they gave or received gift cards this holiday season, and two-thirds (66 percent) said they both gave and received them. The vast majority (81 percent) of respondents said they have already used their gift cards, almost half (43 percent) said they planned to spend their gift cards within one month of receiving them, and nearly two-thirds (63 percent) said they planned to spend the entire value of their gift cards in a single store visit.

The cards also provided recipients with a way to treat themselves to special items. The majority (55 percent) of respondents said they used the cards to purchase something they would not normally buy. When redeeming a card, almost half (47 percent) of the respondents said they spent more than the value of the gift card.

"The popularity of gift cards dramatically changes the retail landscape and extends holiday shopping well into January," said Janet Hoffman, managing partner of Accenture's Retail practice in North America. "Successful retailers will analyze and adapt their inventory, merchandising, promotions and pricing to accommodate the new behaviors and needs of gift card givers and recipients."

The growing popularity of gift cards has introduced a secondary market in which consumers can buy and sell the cards at a discount. Just 13 percent of survey respondents, however, were aware of the opportunity to purchase pre-owned, discounted gift cards. Even fewer respondents (9 percent) were aware of the opportunity to sell gift cards for cash.

"Gift cards could change how we define the holiday shopping season," said Hoffman. "Retailers might find that the weeks leading up to the holiday are less inventory-intensive, with more cards - and less product - being sold. In addition, they might focus less on markdowns in the week after Christmas, as gift card recipients look for new products to which to treat themselves."