Study: Business buyers provide big boost to gift card marketplace

July 21, 2014 - PRLog -- The B2B gift card market – encompassing employee and sales incentives, together with customer loyalty programs – continues to grow in size and popularity, reflecting ever-wider enthusiasm by recipients, according to the  Incentive Gift Card Council (http://www.usegiftcards.org/) (IGCC), a strategic industry group within the Incentive Marketing Association (http://www.incentivemarketing.org/) (IMA), which recently completed a study of more than 1,100 U.S. businesspeople and their companies to get a pulse on the latest gift card spending habits and buying trends.

The research, conducted for the IGCC by the Incentive Research Foundation (http://www.theirf.org/) (IRF) and Aspect Market Intelligence, will be presented and discussed in full detail at the IGCC strategic industry group meeting Sunday, July 27; part of the IMA’s 15^th Annual Summit held July 27-29 in Philadelphia.

Highlights of the study:

The study found that 45% of companies are using gift cards as a reward, with the largest companies (more than $100 million annual revenue) using them at a rate of 56%.

Of companies using gift cards, most firms (67%) are using gift cards as employee incentives, followed by sales incentives (38%), customer rewards (30%) and 8% allocated to channel incentives.

Researchers found that gift cards awarded as sales incentives carry the highest average value of $149, followed by channel incentives ($84), employee awards ($70), and customer rewards ($56).

“Open loop” gift cards – those issued by banks and credit card companies which can be redeemed virtually everywhere – dominate the types of gift cards businesses are purchasing for incentive and loyalty rewards, varying from 56% to 62%, with the largest companies purchasing the majority of open loop cards.

As for “closed loop” gift cards – those issued by a particular business redeemable at only their physical locations and websites, respondents chose their “top 10” favorites, leading with food & beverage cards, and followed by department stores, exclusive online retailers, music and movies, fuel, electronics, sporting goods, apparel shops, travel, and jewelry and accessories.

About the Incentive Gift Card Council: The Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC) is a strategic industry group within the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA), The IGCC educates the incentive marketplace and the corporate community on the benefits of gift cards, including choice, value, and service, and other key attributes recipients say that they want their rewards to have. For more information, please go to http://www.usegiftcards.org.

About the Incentive Marketing Association: Business improves when employees and customers are recognized, rewarded, and engaged through effectively structured programs with defined goals and proven returns. The incentive Marketing Association (IMA) is comprised of the companies who are leaders in the incentive industry. IMA provides education, resources and research to promote the use of incentive programs to the business community and is the umbrella organization for the Global Incentive Council (GIC), the Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC), the Incentive Manufacturers & Representatives Alliance (IMRA), the Incentive Travel Council, the Performance Improvement Council, the Recognition Council, IMA-Australia Council, IMA-Canada Council, and IMA-Europe Council. More information about IMA and the incentive marketplace is available at www.incentivemarketing.org.