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03/11/2009 -
Gift cards can be a valuable opportunity for retailers and merchants, especially heading into the holiday season.Retailers during this year's holiday season in particular will see the benefits of offering and accepting gift cards, according to a survey from stored-value technology firm Givex.
The survey found that, due to the recession's impact on holiday spending, 23 percent of Canadian consumers will buy gift cards instead of personal gifts or giving cash.
Not only will this trend improve cash flow during the January fallout of the holiday shopping season, but it will also likely lead to higher sales - the survey found that 50 percent of consumers will spend more than the value of the gift card during redemption, which marks an increase of 11 percent over last year's figure.
Merchants that do not offer store brand gift cards are encouraged to consider doing so, as it can lead to higher sales during the critical holiday shopping season.
In addition, merchants whose POS terminals do not accept generic gift cards are missing out on a revenue channel. Businesses without this technology are advised to talk to their payment processing provider about upgrading their POS terminals.
