That’s free money for retailers that sell the gift cards, but it certainly makes no sense for consumers. The report found that only about half of consumers say they spend 100 percent of the gift cards or gift certificates they receive.
Clark Howard, of WHIO NewsTalk Radio fame, pointed out in in these very pages last Sunday that gift cards can be converted into cash at websites such as PlasticJungle.com, CardPool.com and GiftCardRescue.com — but typically for about 70-80 cents on the dollar, not the full face value.
So the best and most savvy way to use gift cards is to use them — and as quickly as possible, so they' won't be tossed in a drawer and forgotten.
Online retail on the rise
Traditional retailers are building and buying the facilities, skills and technology they need to create thriving online operations, according to Shop.org’s “SmartBrief” based on information reported by Reuters. This year, retailers including Macy’s and Kohl’s unveiled large new online order fulfillment centers, and others such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot have acquired startup companies to add the technological tools they need to compete online, Shop.org said.
Online sales account for only about 7 percent of total retail sales, according to Forrester Research and Reuters. But the research firm expects online sales growth to rise 45 percent to $327 billion and account for 9 percent of overall sales by 2016.
Traditionally bricks-and-mortar stores are realizing they don’t want to be left behind as that consumer-spending segment grows.
Returning holiday gifts
According to a holiday survey commissioned by FedEx, the shipping giant, consumers are increasingly choosing to ship gifts back instead of dealing with crowds at the mall.
More than a third of Americans will return gifts after the holidays, according to the December 2012 survey that found while 36 percent expect to return gifts this season, more than half (57 percent) prefer to do so by shipping them back to the retailer. Those survey results reflect “a continuation of the online shopping trend that drove record-breaking volume in the FedEx Ground network between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2012,” according to a FedEx news release.
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