Findings from the Blackhawk Network survey of more than 1,100 U.S. consumers revealed:

Omnichannel shopping reigns supreme. Shoppers continue to use a variety of methods when researching and purchasing gifts, making it imperative for retailers to meet consumer needs across multiple channels and provide them with a consistent and easy-to-use brand experience. According to the research:

• When researching gifts to purchase, more consumers look online (73 percent) rather than using other methods, like visiting physical retail outlets (66 percent) or asking people what they want to receive (46 percent).
• While most consumers still purchase gifts by visiting a physical retail outlet (84 percent), they also use a variety of digital channels to shop, including: online via computer (78 percent), via retailer apps (20 percent), online via smartphone (16 percent), and within social networks (five percent).
• When thinking about the upcoming holiday season, 52 percent of shoppers plan to purchase gifts digitally using their computer or mobile device, or via retailer mobile apps.

Retailers must make online gifting easy and abundant. A majority of survey respondents are highly involved with online purchasing. Overall, 87 percent of consumers purchase gifts online because it’s more convenient (72 percent), it saves time (60 percent), and because there are better deals (56 percent) and more options to choose from (56 percent) online.

The most active online shoppers—millennials—are interested in adopting new or alternative ways of gift giving. According to a report by Business Insider Intelligence earlier this year, millennials remain the key age demographic for online commerce, spending more money online in a given year than any other age group. Millennial consumers—especially those between ages 18 and 29—are also interested in adopting alternative ways of gift giving. According to the survey:

• Twenty-eight percent have or would be interested in purchasing a gift from within a social media platform.
• Forty-seven percent have or would be interested in using a gift card giving website that enables the recipient to link the gift card to their credit or debit card, similar to a digital wallet.
• Fifty-four percent have or would be interested in using a group gifting website that allows multiple people to contribute to a single gift.
• Sixty-one percent have or would be interested in redeeming their own loyalty points for a gift card or merchandise to give someone else.

Gift cards remain a popular gifting choice for the holidays, especially physical gift cards. According to the survey, 60 percent of respondents plan on giving some type of gift card this holiday season; echoing findings from a Blackhawk Network study conducted earlier this year, which found that nearly half of consumers have used gift cards in the last year. Physical gift cards are the most popular choice of gift card giving, with 77 percent of consumers planning to give more physical gift cards than egifts this year. When consumers shop for physical gift cards, nearly half say they intend to purchase them at a grocery store (49 percent) or a big box retailer (47 percent) where there are broad selections of gift card options.

eGifts continue to grow in addition to physical gifts, with the egifting process being the key to success. Of consumers who will give gift cards this year, 27 percent plan to gift egifts or e-codes. To encourage greater egifting, it is important for retailers to make the process easy for shoppers and recipients. Consumers say they would give egifts primarily because they are a quick way to send a gift (53 percent) and are simple and convenient options for the gift giver (50 percent). However, 44 percent say they are concerned about how easy it would be for recipients to redeem egifts.

The adoption of mobile apps for gifting is currently low; consumers today prefer to shop for gift cards through retailer online channels. Mobile app use is relatively low, with 54 percent of consumers saying they don’t have any kind of mobile apps on their smartphones to purchase gifts. Only just over one-third (36 percent) would be interested in an all-purpose mobile app for gift giving, which would allow them to buy a variety of egifts, physical gifts and more. Instead, 57 percent of online shoppers would prefer to purchase gift cards from the app or website of the store with the same brand.

@Blackhawk finds omnichannel gifting will be popular for holidays; gift cards remain popular choice Tweet

Blackhawk Network is a pioneer of new gift products and solutions. This success is rooted in Blackhawk’s expertise in shopper marketing and its ability to stay ahead of consumer behavior. To access an infographic detailing the full holiday shopper research, click here.

*About Blackhawk’s Online and Mobile Gifting Survey
Blackhawk’s Online and Mobile Gifting Survey is an Internet-based survey conducted by Blackhawk Network in September 2015. The sample size included 1,140 American respondents.

About Blackhawk Network
Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAWK) is a leading prepaid and payments global company, which supports the program management and distribution of gift cards, prepaid telecom products and financial service products in a number of different retail, digital and incentive channels. Blackhawk’s digital platform supports prepaid across a network of digital distribution partners including retailers, financial service providers, and mobile wallets. For more information, please visit www.blackhawknetwork.com and www.giftcardmall.com.

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