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Plastic gift cards and key tags

Top Gift Card Trends For 2015

Plastic gift cards are more popular than ever. The way they are used develops each year. New trends are emerging that can affect businesses, marketers, and consumers. Trend awareness can help your gift card program remain relevant and effective.

Plastic Gift Card Trends

The way people purchase, use, and give gift cards can inform business owners about how to effectively leverage them. The emerging trends of 2015 can help you anticipate the future use of gift cards for your business.

  • The gift card industry continues to grow. Sales numbers are higher than ever and have been consistently growing for more than a decade. The 2014 IRF Pulse Survey also shows a decline in the number of organizations that believe incentive and gift card programs are suffering from current economic conditions. General positive economic outlook also spells success for gift card and incentive programs. The IFR survey also showed that businesses in several industries are increasing their gift card and incentive program budgets, pointing to a trend in expansion of these programs.
  • Economists predict we are entering the “Experience Economy.” Consumers prefer robust and memorable experiences to individual products or services. Several surveys show the cost of birthday parties, alone, has quadrupled over the span of a generation. This economy lends itself to gift card and incentive programs by giving recipients access to experiences of they wish to choose.
  • The wellness industry continues to grow. Wellness programs and businesses are increasing in popularity. This is good news for gift card and incentive/loyalty programs, which have both proven to be popular and effective in the wellness industry.

As consumers continue to use gift cards in more sophisticated and creative ways, businesses are responding by creating experiential purchasing options, flexible gift card programs, and enticing incentive programs that continue to drive plastic gift card sales.

You can easily take advantage of reloadable custom plastic gift cards for your business. You can find out how to incorporate custom plastic cards into your project or business at www.plasticresource.com.