More Americans Prefer To Give Gift Cards For Christmas, Survey Shows

November 4, 2007 1:15 p.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - More and more Americans prefer to give gift cards for Christmas to save them from the inconvenience of finding the perfect gift, having these wrapped and delivered to recipients.

According to the latest Annual Holiday Survey commissioned by Deloitte, gift cards are seen as the top gift purchase for four consecutive years, with 69 percent of the consumers planning to buy them this year, compared with only 66 percent in 2006. The respondents plan to buy an average of 5.5 cards, compared with the 4.6 cards last year, at $36.25 per card on average compared with $30.22 last year.

Almost four in 10 respondents, or about 39 percent, favor gift certificates so that friends and loved can choose their presents. Their popularity is also across all age groups, including adults, teens and children. Almost half of the respondents, or 46 percent, say they will buy them for immediate family.

Nearly half of consumers, or 49 percent, though have at least one partially or completely unused gift card. These consumers have 3.7 unused cards on the average.

However, gift cards are still seen as "impersonal" by 19 percent of the consumers and will not give these to spouses or significant others.

Based on survey results, although Americans plan to spend more on gift certificates, they also training their sights on less Christmas spending this year.

The survey shows that four in 10 consumers, or 41 percent, expect to reduce their spending this holiday season. But as expected, women plan to buy even more.

The survey polls a sample of more than 10,000 and Deloitte has been conducting since 1985 the national survey that gauges consumers' outlook on the economy, expectations about the year-end holidays, and related spending and purchase patterns.