RIVERWOODS, Ill., Nov. 7, 2005 – As consumers
gear up for another season of frantic holiday
gift-buying, a new survey gives shoppers hope:
They have a better than 50 percent chance their
gift won't be returned.
In fact, nearly
half of Americans surveyed by Discover
®
Card – 46 percent – say they never return gifts,
and another 46 percent say they only return gifts
“every once in a while.” Those statistics compare
with three percent of consumers surveyed who claim
they return “most” gifts. Time may play a role,
as those returning gifts spend from one to three
hours returning them after the holidays.
Re-gifters Beware! In
another finding, the survey indicates that re-gifting
– giving someone else a gift you received – horrifies
most Americans (57%). Five percent say that for
every original gift, they re-gift another, and
four percent say they re-gift as often as possible.
Two percent contend they love re-gifting and
do it all the time. Another 20 percent say they
give more original gifts than re-gift.
Men vs. Women The survey
also reveals that a staggering 86 percent of men
do their holiday shopping by themselves. However,
men are still more likely than women to make their
spouse or partner do all of the shopping. Only
three percent of women make their husband or partner
do the same. As for online holiday shopping,
32 percent of survey respondents say they use
the Internet, with the percentage nearly the same
for men and for women.
The Gift
They Really Want…and Use According
to the research, consumers think gift cards, which
have grown increasingly popular in recent years,
make good gifts, with eight-in-10 Americans saying
they would be “thrilled” or “pleased” to receive
a gift card they can use anywhere. And by a 7-to-3
margin, Americans prefer getting a gift card they
can use anywhere rather than a store-specific
gift card.
The Discover Card survey
also finds that 85 percent of consumers use gift
cards to buy something special for themselves
or to go out to dinner, while those who receive
cash are more apt to pay bills with that money.
“Whether you're a last-minute shopper
– like a lot of us are – or you look for gifts
throughout the year, gift cards help avoid the
long return lines and re-gifting so many consumers
want to avoid,” said Margo Georgiadis, Executive
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Discover
Financial Services. “Plus, it's an easy and convenient
way to buy gifts for people on your holiday list,
while giving them the opportunity to select something
they really want.”
Last-Minute
Shoppers In a related finding, the
survey shows that 39 percent of men and 21 percent
of women wait until the week or night before the
holiday to purchase their gifts. As a result,
six-in-10 Americans consider gift cards a top
option for last-minute holiday shopping, because
they are easy to buy, you can secure them at the
last minute and universal cards can be used nearly
everywhere.
Long Distance Giving
– Cash or Card? Of Americans who
ship gifts to friends and relatives, 35 percent
report they purchase a gift card for such gift
giving, exceeding the 29 percent who send a check
or cash.
Among other survey findings
about gift-card giving:
- 45 percent of
Americans find gift cards good to give people
who are difficult to shop for.
- One-in-five
Americans consider people who give gift cards
“thoughtful” because they “want you to pick a
gift you want or need.”
The survey
was conducted for Discover Financial Services
by Opinion Research Corporation with a representative
sample of 1,000 adults, 48 percent male and 52
percent female. The survey has a margin of error
of +/-3 percent.
About Discover
Financial Services Discover Financial
Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan Stanley
(NYSE:MWD), operates the Discover Card with more
than 50 million Cardmembers, the Discover Network
with more than 4 million merchant and cash access
locations and the PULSE ATM/Debit network currently
serving more than 4,000 banks, credit unions and
savings institutions. For more information, visit
www.discovergiftcard.com,
www.discovercard.com,
www.discovernetwork.com
or
www.pulse-eft.com.