ValueLink Survey Depicts Hispanic Consumer Gift Card Market.

Gift card purchasers and users are as diverse as the look and packaging of gift cards themselves, according to a national study commissioned by ValueLink, the gift and spending card service of First Data Corp.

The ValueLink/Omnibus survey of more than 1,200 consumers aged 18 or older depicts a gift card market that includes a broad range of consumers with varying degrees of awareness, purchase and use of gift cards over the past year and for the future.

From males to females, young adults to seniors, Internet compared with non-Internet users and Hispanics contrasted with non-Hispanics, the ValueLink survey results provide a snapshot of the differences among gift card users. “Approximately 70 percent of gift card buyers fall between the ages of 25 and 54, most are married with children, and are full-time employees with some level of college education,” said Karen Larsen, ValueLink’s director of marketing. “However, given the industry’s continued double-digit growth, it is important for us to understand the diversity of gift card consumers and continue to develop and enhance the product to meet the preferences of these unique groups.”

Middle income families and high income professionals are the primary gift card buyers, accounting for 60 percent of gift card purchases as a whole. While males and females purchased roughly the same number of cards in 2002, 4.5 and 4.7 cards respectively, males were more likely to load higher dollar amounts on their purchased cards, $58 versus $45 for females. Males also received more cards than females in 2002, 31 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Although levels of awareness are lower among young adults and older adults, the older adult category demonstrated a strong interest and willingness to load higher dollar values on gift cards.

Adults 65 and older maintain the highest average dollar value when purchasing cards, $77. The average dollar value of purchased gift cards among all consumers is $50. Older adult consumers also helped drive the purchase of cards valued at $100 or more up from 8 percent in 2001 to 14 percent in 2002. With increases in online sales reported by many merchants in 2002, Internet users have demonstrated interest in gift cards for both online and offline use.

The survey noted several key differences between Internet users and non-Internet users. Among Internet users:

* awareness of gift cards is 20 percent higher (87 percent) than for non-Internet users (67 percent);

* are more likely to purchase gift cards, 54 percent vs. 37 percent use gift cards, 45 percent vs. 26% of non-Internet users;

* Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said a gift card that could be used with multiple merchants would be appealing vs. 56 percent of non-Internet users; and

* 43 percent prefer reloadable cards vs. 34 percent of non-Internet users.

In addition, 20 percent of all consumers said that they are likely to purchase a gift card from a merchant’s Web site in the coming year. Another 18 percent said they are likely to make an Internet purchase using a gift card in the coming year.

The U.S. Hispanic market, now the largest minority market in the country with 37 million consumers and well over a half trillion dollars in buying power, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Hispanic Business magazine, was
also a focus of the ValueLink survey.

Key findings from the Hispanic market segment include:

* Gift card awareness among the Hispanic market is lower than the non-Hispanic market by 26 percent, (56 percent vs. 82 percent).

* Although awareness levels were lower, Hispanics are more likely to make their decision to purchase a gift card while they are in a store (42 percent) than the 17 percent of non-Hispanics.

* 19 percent of Hispanics used a gift card in 2002 vs. 39 percent of non-Hispanics.

* Reloadable gift cards are also far more appealing to Hispanic consumers than non-Hispanics: 24 percent vs. 11 percent,
respectively, have used a reloadable card while 62 percent of Hispanics vs. 33 percent of non-Hispanics expressed interest in the ability to reload funds on a gift card;

* Birthdays and the Christmas holiday are the most frequent gift card giving occasions among Hispanics, and a majority expressed interest in personalizing gift cards with a receiver’s name (66 percent) and specifying a special occasion (65 percent).

“Based on our long-term experience and ongoing evaluation of the needs of our nation’s gift card consumers, ValueLink and its merchant clients will likely continue to develop specialized applications to meet the needs and desires of this fast growing consumer market and its diverse segments,” said ValueLink General Manager, Kevin Harte.

For more information at http://www.valuelink.info