Teens

Just Send a Card

A study commissioned by Stored Value Systems Inc.,® reveals that 93 percent of American high-schoolers have received at least one gift card in the last year. When these teens get a gift card, 59 percent of them use it up in the first month, in the first visit. When it comes to giving gifts, a majority of teens spend up to 10 percent of their disposable income on presents and, most of the time, those presents come in the form of a gift card. 67 percent of teens have purchased a gift card as a present, and a majority of these respondents saw gift cards as the best choice for a gift. 77 percent said this is because they know the recipient can get what he or she wants. Birthdays are the most popular gift-giving occasion and $25 is the most desirable value. When shopping for gift cards, 50 percent of teens say that appearance and having a choice of card designs was important in their decision. Music and apparel gift cards are the most popular retail categories when it comes to teens' gift card purchases (65 percent), followed by electronics, books, restaurants, video rentals and movie theatres.

WonderGroup's Perspective

Gift cards are the perfect solution for all gift-giving occasions. They are quick and easy to shop for and they are seen as more personal than just giving money. Plus, there is no need to worry about whether the recipient will like the present because he or she gets to pick out exactly what they want. All the gift-giver has to do is pick a place, and there's very little risk in that. The only downside is that the recipient knows exactly how much the giver spent, but that's pretty easy to estimate with other gifts anyway. For retailers, not only do gift cards generate revenue, they also generate valuable loyalty with teens. Because of this, retailers should think twice before instituting monthly maintenance fees, expiration dates and other rules and charges that might upset their teen gift card-buying customer base. To increase sales of gift cards, retailers should focus on making them look cool and giving teens several designs to choose from.