According to the Gift Card & Voucher Association (GCVA), the second half of 2023 saw a 7.4% increase in gift card and voucher sales in the UK on a like-for-like basis, “demonstrating robust growth in the market despite a backdrop of a difficult year for the UK economy.”
According to the body’s investigation, which was carried out in conjunction with KPMG, food, leisure, and fashion transactions drove the increase. Overall, merchants saw a 7% increase in sales growth in H2. Despite consumers having less discretionary spending, like-for-like sales for fashion retailers increased by 6.1%.
In the final half of the year, B2B purchases of digital gift cards climbed 17.6% and made up 42.7% of total sales.
In the meantime, B2B, which saw a post-pandemic boom, remains to dominate the gift card and voucher industry. With a share of 15.6%, it is still growing due to the use of gift cards for savings, employee perks, and pay sacrifices as businesses and consumers try to offset the impact of growing costs.
Don Williams, Retail Partner at KPMG UK, said, “The gift card and voucher segment has performed strongly and extremely pleasingly, despite the economic backdrop.” We still believe there is a lot of room for growth in this industry, both in terms of the ongoing “self-gifting” trend that has emerged in response to the current issues surrounding discretionary spending and, more specifically, in terms of making sure the redemption process is seamless for consumers in both physical and digital contexts.
