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13/10/2009 -
Faced with declining gift card purchases, retailers and prepaid card issuers are coming up with creative ways to spark gift card use, said a recent report from Archstone Consulting.The 2009 Gift Card Trend Report found that gift cards "are still the gift of choice among consumers," but values per card have decreased and the focus is "pragmatic, not frivolous," said Dave Sievers, principal and lead of the consumer products and retail practice at Archstone Consulting.
Although the average card price has decreased by 11.5 percent, the number of gift cards purchased has actually increased in the six months before April 2009, the report found.
To combat the decreased card price, some prepaid card companies are taking alternative approaches such as online purchasing and distribution, or are coming up with new card ideas entirely, such as a "medical services" gift card that recipients can use at various healthcare providers.
This resilience of the prepaid card industry underlines the importance of having various payment processing capabilities, through the use of POS terminals that accept credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards. These credit debit machines can significantly increase the revenue channels available to merchants, experts say.
