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Gifts Cards Are Popular But Are They A Good Gift?

myarn | Oct 07, 2011 | 0 comments

For someone who has everything giving a gift card can be an ideal and easy option.Â Retailers like them and they make up a huge segment. Gift cards have exploded onto the landscape over the past number of years as a quick and convenient way to give a present to someone.Â And most people love getting them because you usually know that you will be getting an item you really want.

So just how important is the gift card segment? Well data found from Statistics Canada stated that in 2003 approximately one third of all retailers had an active gift card program.Â The number stores that offered gift cards jumped to about 82% just three years after that. The biggest factor in this increase is due to convenience.

If you have a son or daughter who recently got their driverâ€™s license it is not exactly practical to wrap-up a can of gas as a gift and you certainly are not going to give them your Visa card. However you can quite easily give them a gift card for $100. Gift cards can also be useful for travel where it can be redeemed for bus, train or plane tickets and not have to worrying about travel dates.

Many major coffee houses have started to offer gift cards and they have become extremely popular and successful. While they may not look like much of a gift it really does keep on giving with every shot of caffeine and is appreciated.Â Interestingly enough coffee houses such as Star Bucks allow customers to buy gifts cards using the balance of their existing cards.

There are even gift card options that are suited specially for the affluent clientele.Â Affluent guests of the Four Seasons hotels can request cards from $1,000 all the way up to $5,000.Â You may even get a hold of their head office to arrange a gift card that has a value of an enormous $100,000. You will definitely want to find elegant gift card holders to compliment that type of gift.

Despite the success of gift cards there is a downside to them which is that they usually do not go on sale like ordinary merchandise. Whomever you give the card to will be able to purchase sale items. This same opportunity will not be given to the person giving the card.

Another thought to consider is the store that the card you are giving is redeemable for.Â If the person receiving it to is mot interested in that store the card could be left unredeemed like a large percentage are.Â A big percentage of cards are never cashed-in which adds up to wasted money for the consumer.

Still gift cards can be a great present especially for those in your life that are often hard to buy for. And because many retailers issue them you can be sure to find one thatâ€™s right for the person on your list.