Gift card sales gaining, new research shows

If 2024 is any indication, then 2025 will be a good one for gift card sales. A new report from Bank of America and The Strawhecker Group shows increasing gift card purchasing over the past year as consumers find new ways to give, receive and use gift cards.

Overall, 81 percent of consumers in the study purchased gift cards in 2024, a six percent increase over 2023, as both physical and digital gift card sales were purchased with greater frequency, researchers found. Thirty-eight percent of consumers purchased digital gift cards last year; in 2023, it was 32 percent. Purchases of physical gift cards rose 5 percent, to 68 percent of consumers doing so.

Researchers further found that generationally, millennials purchased gift cards the most, and they tend to prefer physical cards – in 2024 80 percent bought physical cards (a year-over-year increase of 10 percent) while 49 percent purchased digital gift cards (up 3 percent year-over-year). Gen X ran a close second, with 71 percent of Gen X consumers saying they purchased physical cards last year (a 13 percent increase compared to 2023) and 44 percent buying digital gift cards (nine percentage point increase).

Queried about their gift card purchasing plans for 2025, 23 percent of respondents said they plan to spend more on gift cards than they did in 2024.

Worth noting, a majority (63 percent) of consumers across the generations in the study said they prefer gift cards that are designed to highlight special occasions, as opposed to store-branded designs.

Digital cards rule; immediacy counts for a lot too

Not surprisingly, more consumer respondents reported receiving gift cards in 2024 (73 percent) compared to the year before (70 percent).

And the research suggests digital gift cards are catching on with more consumers. Across age groups, 29 percent of participants in the study received digital gift cards last year, a 10 percent year-over-year increase from 2023.

The immediacy of a digital gift card seems to carry the most importance, as 78 percent of purchasers say they send them as soon as they complete their purchases.

Consumers seem to appreciate choices in how they purchase gift cards. For example, 46 percent of respondents purchased a digital gift card on a merchant's website, while 42 percent used both merchant apps and websites.

While findings indicate most consumers purchase physical gift cards in stores, a growing number (one-third) do so online or using mobile apps.

A door opener

Perhaps the most important data point in the research, from the merchant perspective, is that consumers are willing to try new stores or restaurants because they have a gift card for that establishment: 57 percent of those surveyed said they would.

What's more, 92 percent said they would spend at least as much value as the card contains.

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