Gift certificates and cards gain acceptance

[mandy]

It used to be that receiving a gift certificate was a letdown: no gadget to play with, no clothes to try on, no book to read...In recent years, however, the desire by gift recipients for instant gratification is being overridden by a wish to select their own gifts. A National Retail Federation study, for example, shows 52% of consumers in 2005 wanted to receive a gift card or certificate for the holidays, up from 41% in 2003...

...retailers have cause for jubilation, too. 50% of consumers who redeem gift certificates spend more than the certificate’s value...

Not all news, however, is necessarily good. While online sales of gift cards enjoyed a healthy 19% year-over-year increase during the 2005 holiday season, they lagged the 25% growth in online holiday sales overall,... “This could indicate that gift certificates have less appeal to online shoppers than to consumers who also shop at retail stores, where the prevalence of gift cards is especially appealing for last-minute shoppers.”...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=17454