Why Millennials Love Gift Cards

It’s no secret that gift cards are popular. And, we’re not just talking about the holiday season! All year round, retailers that offer gift cards to their customers enjoy steady streams of sales. Gift cards are incredibly convenient purchases for consumers and incredibly convenient presents for recipients.

For buyers, gift cards take away the burden of having to figure out exactly what their gift recipients like, need or want. For receivers, gift cards take away the burden of having to return unwanted gifts. Instead, gift cards allow recipients to buy whatever they like. Gift cards truly provide win-win situations for all involved.

3 out of 5 millennials buy gift cards each year.

According to Pymnts.com, Mercator Advisory Group surveyed 3,009 American adults in June of 2016. “Millennials, specifically those between the ages of 25 and 34, seem to be fuelling the rise in the purchase of retailer-specific gift cards, as three out of every five of the young adults surveyed reported buying at least one in the past year,” the site reveals, “an increase from 2015’s survey, as only about half of millennials reported buying the cards then.”

Millennials buy gift cards for themselves.

A noticeable trend among those aged 18-34 is the purchase of gift cards for self use. After all, who ever said that gift cards have to be given away as gifts? You may be wondering what the point is, for younger people, to buy gift cards for self use. However, the popular coffee chain, Starbucks is credited as having figured out what makes millennials tick.

The coffee company created an app that customers can link their gift cards to. The refillable gift cards make it so that making purchases in Starbucks is incredibly easy and convenient. “In fact, around $1.2 billion of customer cash has been contributed toward their gift card and mobile app with around one-quarter of the entire amount of transactions made at Starbucks stores are done through their app,” reveals First American Payment Systems.

Mobile apps have changed the way gift cards are used.

On their website, First American goes on to highlight the fact that mobile apps have made a significant impact in the ways that gift cards are used by millennials. Clearly, today’s younger generation is made up of individuals who are savvy mobile device users. The convenience of having mobile apps instead of carrying around physical gift cards has given the gift card phenomenon a whole new life.

“Experts feel the rise in popularity has to do with retail mobile apps and the connection with gift cards,” notes First American, “Instead of millennials using a physical gift card and refilling it once the funds have expired, they are instead refilling the gift cards digitally onto the retailer’s mobile app to use the money for their own personal use.”

Have you made gift cards available to your customers?

At Canadian POS, we offer electronic gift cards which have been proven to encourage repeat business, attract new customers and boost sales all year long. For more information, call us at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.