Comparing the Gift Card Programs of Different Product Verticals
For the sixth consecutive year, NAPCO Research, in conjunction with Blackhawk Network, has undertaken a comprehensive review of the state of U.S. merchants’ gift card programs. The 2023 review included an assessment of retailers’ e-commerce/digital, mobile, and in-store gift card offerings, providing an omnicommerce view into the consumer gift card purchase and recipient experience. The full report can be downloaded here.
One of the ways the data collected is parsed is by average score for the 12 different product verticals represented by the 100 retailers assessed. For the second consecutive year, total omnicommerce scores across all industries increased by 7 percentage points. Here’s a breakdown of overall performance YoY by vertical:
An Analysis of YoY Gift Card Performance
Here's a look at how all 100 retailers' average scores are trending across in-store and digital criteria (with mobile wrapped into each of those criteria sets).
Looking at the overall data independent of product vertical, some interesting findings emerged:
- The growth rate for desktop e-commerce/digital has plateaued slightly when compared to the in-store and mobile components of the assessment.
- Mobile (+12 percentage points) is the area where retailers have shown the biggest YoY improvement, led by gains for the mobile in-store experience (+24 percentage points). Increased consumer adoption of mobile payments in the post-COVID era is a contributing factor to this growth. What was previously a “nice to have” has now become an expectation for consumers. Mobile devices are more than just a communication/marketing channel; retailers are adapting accordingly.
- While the overall score for the mobile app portion of the assessment increased 8 percentage points YoY, the channel remains the lowest of all evaluated. Apps are a growth opportunity for retailers looking to sell more gift cards to an engaged audience.
Download the 2023 US Merchant Gift Card Omnicommerce Evaluation, US Edition today to get all of the scoring data as well as best practices for optimizing the performance of your gift card program.
