News

Survey: Retailer brand strength improves with gift card exchange

August 24, 2010

Gift card exchange Plastic Jungle has announced the results of a recent independent study examining the impact of gift card exchanges on retail brands. The results show that consumers have a more positive impression of retail brands when they are given the flexibility to either sell a brand’s gift card for cash or use it at another online retail store.

The survey, which queried consumers across the nation, found that using a brand-name gift card to buy another brand’s products positively impacts both brands. In a sample of over 600 frequent shoppers of 8 top brands, more than half of respondents said that on average their opinion of each brand would improve a little or a lot. Most of the remaining respondents said that their already favorable opinion of each brand would not change.

One respondent commented: “A gift card is much more valuable when I can trade it from one store to another.”

The survey also gauged how shoppers felt about finding a brand’s gift cards for sale online at a 20 percent discount. More than 60 percent responded that this would improve their opinion of the brand a little or a lot, and nearly all of the remaining respondents said this would not change their opinion.