Gift card evolution

The winter holidays are upon us and with them, the peak season of the gift card. A respected and reliable go-to for those on your shopping list who always stump you, the gift card is embraced by retailers as a seasonal sales boost. However, the ways gift cards are bought, gifted and used are changing rapidly, with various consumer age groups approaching them with different goals and expectations. A Consumer Insights Study by FirstData compiled findings from multiple surveys to examine what they call Socializers (ages 18-34), The MTV Generation (ages 35-54) and Maturists (ages 55+) want out of their gift card experiences — whether it’s incentives for spending gift cards on themselves, the convenience of digital gift cards or automatic reloading.