According to Paytronix Systems Inc.’s Paytronix Annual Gift Card Sales Report: 2019, there is a consistent 10% year-over-year growth in gift card sales for the 220 brands surveyed in this year’s report versus the 190 brands surveyed for its 2018 reports.
The Paytronix Annual Gift Card Sales Report: 2019 includes an in-depth look into holiday gift card sales, sales by channel and service type and anticipated redemption.
The report also reveals new insights on eGift cards, such as average load to a virtual stored value card and how restaurants can anticipate their eGift card sales to look during the busy holiday season.
With the online ordering industry expanding, the report also examines the impact of gift cards redeemed online.
Significant findings include:
Higher Online Sales
Not only are quick-service gift cards redeemed more frequently, they also contribute to higher sales in the online order channel, with a 6% increase in check size on orders placed and paid for online with a gift card.
Third-Party Retail Sales
While in-store gift card sales continue to contribute to more than half of annual gift card sales, this percentage decreases slightly in favor of third-party sales. Discounted gift card sales, through retailers like Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club amount to over a third of all third-party sales. Restaurants seeking to increase gift card sales should investigate third-party channels, given that adding just one third-party retail partner could contribute to increases of more than 25%.
Holiday Gift Card Sales
Gift card sales drove a large portion of the increase in card sales from 2017 to 2018 as the popularity of gifting stored-value cards continue to grow. The average increase in card sales throughout the year was around 6.3%, but in the holiday months, gift card sales increased over 15% from 2017. Gift card sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 pick up for the holiday season around mid-November, with the first noticeable spike of sales in 2016 – 2018 on Black Friday.
“The Paytronix Annual Gift Card Sales Report: 2019 highlights the significance of a gift card program to a brand’s overall sales,” said Michelle Tempesta, head of marketing, Paytronix Systems Inc. “The report demonstrates that gift cards are effective sales tools across all restaurant types and that developing a multi-channel program that includes both traditional and eGift cards will result in a boost to overall restaurant sales, especially during the holiday season.”
Newton, Mass.-based Paytronix provides SaaS customer experience management (CXM) solutions for restaurants and convenience store brands. Through its innovative software design and integrations with more than 30 widely used point of sale systems, Paytronix empowers more than 350 brands across 26,500 locations with the flexibility to build unique, revenue-enhancing guest experiences.
