It's true Americans will use their credit and debit cards a record number of times this holiday season. But this will be a "plastic Christmas" in another way. This year, as never before, there is a shower of plastic gift cards available. Any retailer, worth his salt, has a gift card in play this year. Most offer consumers the ability to order their gift cards online.
TOP TEN GIFT CARDS FOR 1999 1. Wal-Mart 6. Circuit City 2. K-Mart 7. Nordstrom 3. Sears 9. Barnes & Noble 4. Home Depot 9. Tower Records 5. Borders 10. Zale's 1. Wal-Mart offers gift cards in denominations of $20, $50, $100, $250, $500 and $1,000. The cards can also be used at Sam's Club but there is a 5% upcharge on non-member purchases. The cards are shipped UPS Ground and should arrive within 5-7 working days. The card is also reloadable, in that you can get a dollar amount put back on the card. For more information visit www.walmart.com.
2. Kmart offers the Kmart Cash Card in increments of $25, $50 or $100. The cards can be shipped in two business days with rush processing. For more details: www.kmart.com.
3. Sears, Roebuck and Co. offers a gift card that can be purchased in $5 increments (with a minimum of $10, a maximum of $100) and may be applied toward in-store purchases at Sears store locations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Each Sears Gift Card, individually wrapped in a special gift holder, can be mailed via U.S. Postal Service directly to the recipient with a personalized message. There is no charge for shipping and handling when the card is purchased through www.sears.com.
4. Home Depot also announced this month the availability of Home Depot Gift Cards at its Web site (www.homedepot.com). The gift cards, can be purchased in amounts of $10, $25, $50 or $100 and can be redeemed at any Home Depot, EXPO Design Center or Villager's Hardware stores in the United States. Customers have the option to have the gift card package shipped to the recipient's home or business address via US Postal Service, United Parcel Service ground, UPS 2-day or UPS next day service. The recipient will also receive a personalized message in the card carrier.
5. Borders Cafe Espresso offers the first cafe gift card. Customers who purchase the $20 cafe card can use it for more than just latte. The card can also be swiped for books, music or video in the store. Borders has also introduced an Explorers gift card for children, a prepaid card that can carry any amount of buying power from $5 to $500. The card is good for anything at Borders. Visit www.borders.com for more information.
6. Circuit City and giftpoint.com offer consumers the ability to order Circuit City gift cards in multiples of $25, up to $10,000. Recipients receive an instant notice of the gift via e-mail as well as an electronic greeting card. Visit www.circuitcity.com.
7. Nordstrom offers gift cards from $10 to any amount under $1,000 at any on-line register on the sales floor and at the Nordstrom Rack. Gift cards over $1,000 may be purchased in person at the customer service department in any Nordstrom store. Customers may also choose to consolidate the value of several different cards onto a single gift card. Visit www.nordstrom.com.
8. Barnes & Noble gift cards can be purchased with any payment method and in any amount between $5 and $100, or $25 and $50 pre-denominated cards. In addition, customers can add value to the card in amounts between $5 to $100. There is no fee or charge for the card. Visit www.barnesnoble.com.
9. Tower Records gift cards can be purchased and redeemed at all U.S. Tower locations and online at Tower Records.com. Tower Gift Cards are available in denominations ranging from $10 - $100 and carry no expiration date. Visit www.towerrecords.com.
10. Zales jewelers offers gift cards in any denomination from $25 and $10,000. Gift card holders can redeem their cards for merchandise, increase their balances or verify their balances at any store. Customers can also obtain their balance by calling the toll free number on the back of the card. Visit www.zales.com.
SwiftGiftCard offers a MasterCard prepaid gift card issued by KeyBank. SwiftGiftCard is offering the card in denominations of $25, $50, $75 and $100 and will emboss the recipient's name on the card. The cards will expire three months from the issue date. The company is also including a personalized greeting card. The company charges a handling fee of $6.95 to $8.95 for each card. However the card cannot be used at an ATM. Visit www.swiftgiftcard.com.
PLASTIC CHARGES TOP $126 BILLION
American consumers will rack up a record $126.5 billion on credit and debit cards this holiday season. General purpose credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express) will account for $92.6 billion of the total holiday charges. Retail store and gasoline cards (Sears, JCPenney, Exxon, etc.) will account for $15.1 billion of the total holiday charges. General purpose debit cards (VISA Check Card and MasterCard's MasterMoney Card) will account for $18.8 billion of the total holiday charges.
During the 29 day period between the holidays, Americans will swipe their credit cards more than 1.6 billion times, charging an average of $3.7 billion in purchases per day or $156 million each hour. For the peak shopping days of Nov 26, Nov 27 and Dec 24, consumers will use their credit cards more than 7,000 times per second generating charges of nearly $500,000 per second.
Debit cards, issued by VISA or MasterCard, will continue to soar in popularity this holiday season as consumers will use such cards about 499 million times, debiting their checking or savings account for an average of $37.68 per transaction. Last year Americans used debit cards approximately 354 million times during the Christmas shopping season. Debit card use in the U.S.A. is growing 43% annually.
Online shopping will take hold this year as the fastest growing area of credit and debit card use. American consumers will charge nearly $12 billion of online holiday sales on credit and debit cards.
Californians will continue to be the most active card users, charging more than $15.6 billion on major credit cards and store cards. Cardholders in the Northeast will lead the nation by posting $23.1 billion to their charge plates.
While consumers will put more than $100 billion on credit cards during the December billing period, more than $80 billion will be paid off by the end of January. American consumers currently owe $456 billion on bank credit cards and $92 billion on store cards.
Compared to the 1998 Christmas holiday shopping season, credit card use is up 17.8% this year, 1.66 billion transactions for 1999 versus 1.41 billion transactions last year. Debit card usage over the holiday period has increased 40.1%, from 354 million transactions last year to 499 million for 1999. For 1998, Americans charged $83.0 billion to major, general purpose credit cards; $14.3 billion to retail credit cards; and $13.2 billion to general purpose debit cards.
NEW YEARS EVE WINNERS
America Online and e-Visa launched a new sweepstakes that will make one online shopper an instant millionaire. Online shoppers who sign up for Shop@AOL's Quick Checkout digital wallet with their VISA card will be automatically entered to win the million dollar prize. Eligible participants will receive one entry when they register for Shop@AOL's Quick Checkout between now and December 13. One grand-prize winner will be chosen via a random drawing and awarded a $1 million VISA Prize Card issued by First USA. AOL's digital wallet enables customers to enter information from ten different credit cards, billing information and up to 50 shipping addresses. For contest details and more information visit www.aol.com
American Express announced the Corporate Optima Card Millennium Sweepstakes this week that will wipe out outstanding card balances, up to $20,000, of twenty business owners. Cardholders with an American Express small business credit card, including the American Express Corporate Optima Card and Delta Skymiles Card are automatically entered into the contest. For more information and rules for non-cardholders, entrepreneurs can visit the American Express Small Business Exchange website, at www.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness
The Discover card is giving away $1 million to one winner on New Year's Eve in the middle of Times Square in New York City. All Discover cardholders will be eligible for a chance to win in the Cashback Bonus Countdown Sweepstakes. >From a pool of 2000 qualifiers, five finalists will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Times Square for New Year's Eve. Four of the finalists will win $25,000 and one will leave the Big Apple a millionaire. On New Year's Eve, Discover Card will announce the grand-prize winner on the Discover Card sign atop One Times Square. Discover Card's 55'x55' electronic billboard is directly below the spot where the famous New Year's Eve ball descends. Visit www.discovercard.com for more information.
