[jeffrey]

Eight out of 10 people (82%) either gave or received a gift card this past holiday season according to a new survey by Accenture with two-thirds (66%) revealing that they both gave and received gift cards. 81% indicated that they have already used their gift cards.

For those that have used their gift cards, over half (55%) said they used the gift cards to purchase something they would not normally buy for themselves. In addition, when gift card holders redeemed a card, almost half (47%) ended up spending more than the value of the gift card.




Other findings from the survey:

73%of respondents said they gave between one and six cards this holiday season with 91% going to a store to purchase a gift card.

Almost one in five (19%) said they spent more on a gift card than they would spend on a gift.

Close to half (49%) of respondents bought gift cards because they didn’t know what to purchase or because it was more convenient than buying a gift.

85% of respondents purchased gift cards between $1 and $50. 12% spent between $51 and $100 and 3% spent more than $100 on individual gift cards.