Gift Card Sales Keep Climbing

Advertising Disclosure: When you buy something by clicking links on our site, we may earn a small commission, but it never affects the products or services we recommend.

Image Not Available

LowCards.com wrote up the findings of a new study…

Approximately 85 percent of Americans will purchase a gift card in 2012 according to CEB TowerGroup research. Sales will exceed $110 billion, and spillage–the amount of money that goes unused on a gift card–will drop to $1.7 billion. Gift card sales are expected to reach $130 billion by 2015.

Between my wife and I we got six gift cards for Christmas. There’s never any “spillage” on our cards!

It’s not a surprising trend when many retailers throw in discounts or extras to essentially promise to shop at a store you planned to anyway. And, as the study points out, many people spend at least $25 beyond the gift card’s value when they redeem it. Sounds like win-win, unless you get a card you don’t want. If that’s the case, check out the links below…

Get smarter with your money!

Want the best money-news and tips to help you make more and spend less? Then sign up for the free Money Talks Newsletter to receive daily updates of personal finance news and advice, delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for our free newsletter today.