Last-minute holiday shoppers more likely to buy digital gift cards than plastic gift cards, with 26.7% of digital gift card purchases in December occurring between Dec. 21-24, study finds

Cindy Allen

LOS ANGELES , April 26, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – According to a study by Giftango Corp. that was conducted using the company’s own data, last-minute holiday shoppers were more likely to buy digital gift cards than plastic gift cards, Internet Retailer reported April 25.

The study found that 26.7% of digital gift card purchases in December occurred from Dec. 21-24. By contrast, the peak sales period for online merchants using Giftango technology to sell plastic gift cards ran from approximately Dec. 11 to Dec. 15, while the strongest individual day was Dec. 12. On average, plastic gift cards purchases online do not arrive in consumers’ mailboxes until, on average, three to five days after the point of the purchase.

For online retailers that sold both digital and plastic gift cards, Dec. 19 was the highest sales day. The report noted that online merchants selling both digital and plastic gift cards sold 22.57% of their total monthly sales in those two categories during the five-day period up to Dec. 19.

Giftango helps online retailers deliver gift cards through either mobile devices or email.

The primary source of this article is Internet Retailer, Chicago, Illinois, on April 25, 2012.

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