Holiday Gift Cards Still Widely Popular
The average household is expected to spend 9 percent more this year on spending for the Christmas season and one of the most popular gifts of giving is a personalized greeting card.
The International Council of Shopping Centers reported that 17 percent consumers said they would spend much more than they spent in 2005 and 56 percent said they would spend the same on gifts this year as they did one year ago. Gift cards largely went along with holiday gifts.
According to the annual consumer spending survey, gift cards expenditures represented 13.1 percent of total holiday spending in 2005. And the majority of consumers cited that the main motivation behind using and purchasing gift cards is the convenience factor.
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Now more popular than ever are personalized gift cards, including holiday photo cards. The trade group Photo Marketing Association International estimated that about 270 million photo greeting cards were sent last year.
More people are looking to personalize greetings to friends and family and advances in technology are making it easier and cheaper to do so, according to The Associated Press.
Major greeting card companies have embraced the trend, creating their own photo-friendly cards for consumers to personalize themselves. Hallmark increased the number of photo-holder cards from 14 last year to 20 this year, and Martha Steward partnered with Kodak EasyShare Gallery to create a series of ready-to-go cards that consumers can just stick their family portrait in.
"Everyone has a camera, everyone has access to a computer, everyone can upload their photos. You can even avoid computers and upload directly from their cameras," said Mania Chait, VistaPrint vice president of public relations, the Associated Press reported. "It's quicker and less expensive than making something yourself. You don't have to take three hours."
Personalized greeting cards on a more traditional level are still a mainstay. With convenience being a major factor, businesses such as CardsDirect.com are offering services over the Internet, allowing consumers to create and order holiday cards in a quick and easy manner.
Although technology is also reducing the number of handwritten and traditional cards being sent to each household, with 1.9 billion cards sent in the U.S. in 2005 alone, they are unlikely to be removed from the holiday shopping list any time soon.
