Gift Cards Helped Save U.S. Holiday Shopping Season
Posted on January 5th, 2008 | ||||||||||
PR Newswire Jan 04 2008 : Gift cards helped to salvage the 2007 U.S holiday shopping season, according to Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services. The New York-based firm says that holiday season sales continue to be supplemented by retailers’ gift card offerings. While some analysts see in-store sales gains for the 2007 holiday season coming in below 3 percent, S&P’s Equity Research believes post-holiday gift card redemptions will provide the needed sales boost. According to an S&P’s Equity Research Services survey of consumer spending and attitudes for the 2007 holiday season, more than half of U.S. shoppers were planning on giving gift cards this past Christmas. In addition, nearly four out of five of those surveyed expected to spend the same or more on cards as they did in 2006, when gift cards were 32 percent of their total holiday spending. The survey was conducted in November 2007. “While lackluster holiday sales this season have led to the belief that it could be the worst in five years, we believe all hope is not lost, and gift cards could provide a silver lining,” says Mark Basham, an analyst with S&P’s Equity Research. “Gift cards are increasingly becoming part of holiday shoppers’ plans, and this year the trend continued.” Basham says that, while the number of gift cards given may not have risen, the overall value is expected to increase this season. U.S. retailers anticipated that 25 percent or more of gift card redemptions would take place in the week following Christmas, with more than two-thirds of cards redeemed by the end of January, S&P Equity Research says. |
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