While less than a third of consumers (30.2%) have already purchased a gift card, sales of the cards are expected to jump this week as procrastinators find themselves running out of time. An earlier holiday survey by BIGresearch for NRF found that gift cards were the most requested gift for the holidays this year.
“From aggressive promotions to special offers, retailers have big plans to bring people into stores this week,” said Vice President of Strategy at BIGresearch Phil Rist. “In addition to traditional holiday presents, gift cards will be a very popular last-minute choice for shoppers since they are easy to purchase and are never out of stock.”
NRF is forecasting holiday sales to increase four percent over last year, bringing total sales to $474.5 billion. November sales, which were released last week, rose 5.1 percent over last year.
National Retail Federation
marketing@alchempro.com
