Gift card watch: consumers buying more gift cards

Retailers may be able to breathe a small sigh of relief when it comes to their gift card business.

According to a recent report by The Hartman Group, the number of consumers purchasing gift cards has significantly increased over the past six months. This interesting finding suggests that consumers may actually view gift cards as practical gifts in this tough economy. If this trend continues for the remainder of the year, it could spell good things for sales of gift cards at the holiday gift-giving season.

However, the report also notes that while more consumers are purchasing gift cards, consumers are actually spending less on gift cards. The study suggests that the lower rate of spending on gift cards can be attributed to consumers’ poor views of the economy. In addition to that, almost half of consumers are reluctant to purchase gift cards due to the myriad of retailer and restaurant bankruptcies.

We’ll be following what’s happening on the gift card front over the course of this year. Be sure to stop back for updates!

[via The Hartman Group: Gift Card Buying Trends, 2009]

Survey says! Americans more positive about industries in '09

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are more positive about most major businesses and industries this year, after being more negative nearly across the board in 2008.

Some notable findings from the poll include:

- The computer industry remains the most positively rated at 62 percent, but the restaurant industry follows not far behind at 57 percent.

- The figures for the restaurant industry are up 6 percentage points over the 2008 numbers.

- The biggest gainers since last year are the grocery industry, the airline industry, and the federal government

- The banking and automobile industry scores continue to drop over this year.

[via Gallup]