The 2021 May Gift Card Gauge from Fiserv found that 69% of consumers take into account a gift card’s design when making a purchase, with another 40% saying they have made an impulse gift card purchase simply because they like the design. The study also found a growing correlation between gift cards and milestone events — with 1 in 3 relying on gift cards as their “go-to” gift for these events, and another 68% planning on giving 3 or more gift cards for milestone events each year.
Fiserv is a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. Additional findings from research it conducted in May include:
- Consumers are relying on customization options to personalize gift cards, including specific designs (63%), custom messages (54%), and custom photos/images (46%)
- When it comes to milestone events, consumers are most likely to purchase gift cards for birthdays (78%), graduations (67%), weddings (52%), anniversaries (46%), and new babies (38%)
- 56% of consumers accompany gift cards with a greeting card
- 55% of consumers prefer gift cards that are made from sustainable materials
- When asked what design innovation they would like to see, consumers noted customized packaging (48%), different sizes/shapes (44%) and custom textures (36%) as their top picks.
“Consumers have come to expect personalization as a standard of service, and this expectation has only increased with time,” said Tom Niedbalski, Vice President, Gift Solutions, Fiserv. “This desire for personalization, coupled with a growing reliance on gift cards for milestone events, creates an opportunity for merchants to shift gift card perceptions from ‘last minute’ gift to gift of choice.”
The 2021 May Gift Card Gauge from Fiserv is a survey of over 1,000 American consumers age 18 and older conducted to better understand their use and perceptions of digital wallets. The margin of error is +/- 3.028%.
