• by Ray Schultz , August 23, 2023

Email marketers tasked with selling holiday gift cards have reason to celebrate: 68% of shoppers expect to buy them this year, according to the Q3 2023 Gift Card Gauge from Fiserv.

Of course, 65% expect to buy them directly from the retailer where the gift card will be used, leaving little room for ecommerce sales of the cards. But purchasers have ambitious plans. 

For instance, 66% would be interested in gift cards featuring partnerships from multiple companies. And 44% would include built-in tipping in the card value for gift cards for a service. 

Moreover, 40% will utilize a “wrap,” consisting of a greeting card.

Why buy gift cards? The reasons are:

- It gives the recipients the ability to purchase what they want—72%

- Ease of ordering, wrapping, giving—41%

- They don’t know what to purchase—33%

For their part, potential recipients have expectations as to gift card value:

• $25—47%
• $50—26%
• $100—12%

Fiserv surveyed 1,000 consumers in July 2023 for its Q3 2023 Gift Card Gauge.