According to a recent survey by First Data, 93% of respondents would rather receive a gift card valued at $25 than an actual gift of the same value. Given the freedom that a gift card offers, especially if it is an open loop gift card like an eftpos gift card, this result may not be that surprising. However, what really did surprise us was that fact that 49% said they would rather get a $25 gift card than a present worth $50!

In a recent story on Fox Business, data from a Swagbucks survey expands on some of the thinking and attitudes around gift cards. About 2/3 of those surveyed said they plan to buy a gift card for immediate family members, while 52% planned to do so for friends.
41% said they prefer to give a gift card at Christmas and 64% listed the main reason as being because it allows the recipient to get what they want. According to FDC, in 2012 consumers purchased an average of five open loop gift cards, which would be similar to the eftpos gift cards available here in Australia.
At the end of the day, the biggest advantage of open loop gift cards is that your recipients can use them anywhere eftpos is accepted so they can be sure to be able to reward themselves with something they really want, regardless of age, gender or location.
This flexibility is helping to drive demand from both givers and receivers and certainly outweighs any outdated connotations around gift cards being too impersonal.
Find out more about making your eftpos gift cards more personnel.