A survey by online gifting platform Woohoo has revealed that the gift cards market in India witnessed a growth of 2.5 times in 2018. The lion’s share of this growth was witnessed in the non-metros, with cities such as Patna, Agra, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneshwar taking the lead. These towns witnessed five times the growth of gift cards market in 2018 which is double the average. Primary segments that contributed to the growth include grocery, hospitality, fashion, departmental stores, personal accessories and travel, said a report in Times of India.
Gifting and stored value services provider Qwikcilver that owns Woohoo also said in the report that the gift cards market in India is expected to further triple up over the next four years, with the non-metros contributing to about 40% of the growth.
While physical gift cards grew only by one and half times in 2017, 90% of the card transactions were done through mobile devices. E-gifts saw a tremendous rise in the non-metros with almost 95% of the transaction done digitally. In fact in 2015, gift cards ranked first for being the most favourable gift during holiday season.
The survey further showed that 85% of the gift card buyers were aged below 35 years with half of them being under 24. In the non-metros, about 90% of the users were below 35 years.
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The reason for such remarkable growth of the gift cards market in India can be attributed to the development of more hi-tech devices and secure systems. Consumers are able to use ecommerce to shop online as well. Gift cards also offer huge convenience to consumers as they can be bought from the comfort of their home. In other words, owing to the convenience internet offers, consumers find it easy send gift cards via their smartphone, tablet or computer. It also saves a trip to the market!
Reasons why gift cards are popular:
- Time saving and easy to purchase
- Receiver can buy desired gifts
- Cost effective
- Speedy delivery
Online merchants who want to be ahead of technological development can benefit hugely by investing in the digital gift industry. This is due the fact that consumers tend to spend more money than the actual money valued in the card. There are several places in India to buy gift cards. It remains one of the best ways to send gifts to multiple persons or persons who are far away. As India acquires more mobile users and more apps are evolved, the gift cards market in India could see further growth.
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