November 7, 2007
Review of Comdata 2007 Study on Gift Card Trends
Last week, Comdata, based in Brentwood, Tennessee and a wholly own subsidiary of Ceridian Corporation (NYSE:CEN), released their fifth annual survey on gift card trends for 2007 (PDF, ~1MB). The 145 page PDF document is chock-full of information about gift card trends in purchase behavior, usage habits, attributes & enhancements, and expected 2007 holiday season purchases. The document also summarizes findings, provides recommendations, lists survey respondents’ characteristics, and documents the questionnaire utilized. Anyone serious about gift card trends should comb through the PDF in greater detail.
Figure 1. Gift Cards Purchased for Others in 2007
Readers' Comment (2) | Filed under: Trends
November 3, 2007
Gift Cards Sold in October 2007
Overall, 12,264 gift cards were sold on eBay for the month of October. On average, 396 gift cards were sold per day. Mondays continue to have the highest number of transactions during the week. However, during the last week of October (dark purple, Week 5), Tuesday had higher volume than Monday. Traditionally, Fridays have lowest transactions per day averages, except for the Friday in Week 1 (light blue).
Comment now » | Filed under: Trends
October 30, 2007
GiftCardLab.com: New Twist on an Old Strategy
Back in September, we began to hear buzz around GiftCardLab.com through RSS feeds and blogs. We initially thought the buzz was part of a coordinated viral campaign to increase brand awareness. Today BusinessWeek, a major weekly business publication, picked up on the buzz and published an informative piece about them. The article is definitely worth reading as it provides insight into what GiftCardLab.com is about. It also reiterates a lot of the same things we’ve been warning about, pitfalls with prepaid bank gift cards. What GiftCardLab.com is offering is basically an old strategy with a new twist.
Readers' Comment (5) | Filed under: Analysis
October 29, 2007
Apple Gift Cards Not Allowed for iPhone Purchases
Over the weekend, Apple introduced a new policy of no longer accepting cash for iPhone purchases and limiting sales of iPhones to two per person. The main reason provided by Apple was to prevent people from reselling iPhones and unlocking the phone so it can be used on other networks besides AT&T. Furthermore, news and blog sites are also reporting that Apple gift cards cannot be used to purchase iPhones, because Apple considers Apple gift cards to be in the same category as cash. Continue reading…
Comment now » | Filed under: Tips
October 28, 2007
DirectSites, Inc Purchases Office Building
DirectSites Inc., owner of GiftCards.com LCC , has purchased the Carpenters Council office building at 495 Mansfield Ave. for $1.2 million, according to records filed with the Allegheny County property records. While the exact detail of the transaction is not available to us to analyze thoroughly, we can safely assume that DirectSites is experiencing strong organic growth in order to obtain financing for or to purchase a $1 million property out right. The 19,200 square foot office building is located in Green Tree, Pennsylvania and sold for roughly $63 per square foot, which is a substantial sum. Continue reading…
Comment now » | Filed under: Analysis
October 27, 2007
US Bank Issues 20th Millionth Gift Card
On October 25, US Bank stated that it has issued its 20th millionth gift card, doubling the number in slightly over one year. Last July, US Bank issued its 10th millionth gift card. This pace solidifes US Banks as the top Visa gift card issuer. Continue reading…
Comment now » | Filed under: Analysis
October 26, 2007
Gift Card Collecting
While the vast majority of gift card transactions on eBay are primarily for the purpose of reselling unwanted gift cards. There is a noticeable number of transactions related to the hobby of collecting and trading gift cards. Yes, people are collecting gift cards and based on our analysis of eBay transactions, the trend is growing. There are even gift card collecting websites out there. GiftCardCollector.com is one of the more popular sites.
Readers' Comment (1) | Filed under: Collectibles
