Gift Card Granny reported on November 20, 2018 that nearly 80% of respondents planned to give a gift card during the holiday season. Its survey release also described a strong preference for online Black Friday shopping, including among respondents aged 35 and older. [S01]
How respondents expected to shop
Black Friday shopping preferences reported in 2018
Share of respondents choosing each shopping channel.
%
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Company survey. The release does not disclose sample size, recruitment, fieldwork dates or weighting. These are reported preferences, not verified purchases.
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| Category | Respondents |
|---|---|
| Online only | 50% |
| Online and in store | 37% |
| In store only | 13% |
The company said 80% of respondents aged 35 or older planned an online Black Friday purchase. Approximately 80% of respondents also said they would be happy or thrilled to receive a gift card. [S01]
Interest is different from measured sales
These findings describe a survey conducted before the holiday shopping period. They cannot establish the value of gift cards subsequently sold, the rate at which recipients redeemed them or the spending delivered to individual retailers.
The release also reported two selected reactions to receiving a gift card: approximately 80% would feel happy or thrilled, while 10% would feel indifferent. These are stated feelings. The approximate first value and the unreported remaining response categories prevent an exact full distribution, and neither response measures later sales or redemption. [S01]
Selected reactions to receiving a gift card in 2018
Selected attitudes reported by Gift Card Granny before the 2018 holiday season.
% of respondents
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Happy or thrilled is approximately80%, not an exact80.0%. The original does not disclose sample size, field dates, recruitment or weighting. Other response categories are not reconstructed. These are attitudes, not actual gift-card purchases or redemptions.
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| Category | % of respondents |
|---|---|
| Happy or thrilled (approximately) | 80 % of respondents |
| Indifferent | 10 % of respondents |
The release did not disclose the sample size, recruitment method, fieldwork dates or weighting. Its results are therefore presented here as responses to the company’s survey, without treating them as a precise estimate for all US adults.
For a gift-card seller, the useful connection is between the purchase channel and the product being considered. A shopper who intends to buy online may need clear delivery timing, a straightforward choice of value and an explanation of whether the recipient receives a physical card or a digital code. The survey does not measure which of those features changes conversion.
The 2018 findings also sit in a specific historical setting. They should not be used as a current forecast or compared with a later survey unless the questions, sample and timing are sufficiently similar.
In this article
Suzie Elis
Suzie Elis covers gift card products, digital gifting and distribution for Gift Card News.