First Data SpendTrend Closed Loop Prepaid Cards, is based on total year-over-year activity and does not represent First Data’s financial performance. Closed Loop Prepaid Cards refers to merchant branded spending/gift cards, incentive and promotional cards.
SpendTrend™ Closed Loop Prepaid Cards | Edition: December 2010 | Version 011411
Edition: Full Month December 2010 | Published: January 14, 2011, 9:00 am EST
GiFT CARD DoLLAR VoLumE SummARy FoR DECEmBER 2010
Total
-25% 0% 25% 50% 75%
Activations
Redemptions
Reloads
4.6%
2.0%
27.1%
Specialty Retail
-25% 0% 25% 50% 75%
Activations
Redemptions
Reloads
-1.1%
-1.5%
4.9%
Casual Dining
-25% 0% 25% 50% 75%
Activations
Redemptions
Reloads 0.7%
7.8%
8.9%
QSR
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Activations
Redemptions
Reloads
30.6%
11.9%
80.3%
Key InsIghts
specialty Retail Dollar Volume growth Down. The heavy promotions and deep discounting by merchants in December negatively impacted dollar volume growth. Specialty Retailers were most impacted as activation dollar volume growth declined -1.1%, redemption dollar volume growth declined -1.5% and reload dollar volume growth slowed to 4.9%.
Activation Dollar Volume and transactions slow. December’s activation dollar volume growth of 2.0% and activation transaction growth of 2.1% represented declines from November. Consumers purchased more of their holiday gift cards earlier in the season. Activation average tickets, however, continued to improve for the second consecutive month to -0.1% in December.
in December, year-over-year dollar volume growth of activations was 2.0%, a decrease from 8.6% in November. Redemption dollar volume growth was 4.6% in December compared to 5.9% in November. Deep discounting by merchants this holiday season and severe winter weather late in the month suppressed dollar volume growth.
DOLLAR VOLUME GROWTH OF ACTIVATIONS AND REDEMPTIONS SLOWED IN DECEMBER
First Data SpendTrend Closed Loop Prepaid Cards, is based on total year-over-year activity and does not represent First Data’s financial performance. Closed Loop Prepaid Cards refers to merchant branded spending/gift cards, incentive and promotional cards.
-10%
20%
10%
0%
30%
Dec 10Sep Oct NovAugJulMayAprMarFebJanDec 09 Jun
Dollar Volume Growth in Gift Card Activations by Industry
Average Ticket ValueACTiVATioN AVERAGE TiCKETS CoNTiNuE To imPRoVE
The average tickets on activations were down -0.1% in December, which marks the second consecutive month of improvement from october’s low of -8.0%. The deep discounting conducted by merchants this holiday season kept average ticket values down.
ACTiVATioN DoLLAR VoLumE GRoWTH SLoWS To 2.0%
December dollar volume growth in activations was 2.0%, a decrease from November’s strong growth of 8.6%. Specialty Retail dollar volume growth was -1.1% in December after posting a 7.3% increase in November. Consumers appear to have purchased the bulk of their gift cards early in the holiday shopping season.
ACTiVATioN TRANSACTioN GRoWTH SLoWS
overall year-over-year transaction growth was 2.1% in December, ending three consecutive months of double-digit increases. Specialty Retailers saw activation transaction growth decline -5.9%. This marked the lowest year-over-year transaction growth for Specialty Retail since January 2010.
Activations are the initial purchase and loading of funds onto a closed loop gift card.
First Data SpendTrend Closed Loop Prepaid Cards, is based on total year-over-year activity and does not represent First Data’s financial performance. Closed Loop Prepaid Cards refers to merchant branded spending/gift cards, incentive and promotional cards.
0%
-10%
-20%
10%
20%
Dec 10Sep Oct NovAugJulMayAprMarFebJanDec 09 Jun
10%
0%
-10%
30%
20%
40%
Dec 10Sep Oct NovAugJulMayAprMarFebJanDec 09 Jun
10%
0%
-10%
40%
30%
20%
50%
Nov 10Sep Oct NovAugJulMayAprMarFebJanDec 09 Jun
Dollar Volume Growth in Gift Card Redemptions by Industry
December’s year-over-year transaction growth was 9.1%, down from November’s growth of 15.9%. Transaction growth slowed over the course of the month as severe winter weather prevented consumers from redeeming gift cards late in the month. The Casual Dining segment posted gains as consumers chose to dine out more in December.
REDEmPTioN AVERAGE TiCKETS DECREASE -4.1%
in December, the average ticket value of redemptions was -4.1%. This was an improvement from -9.2% growth in october and -8.6% in November as consumers began to redeem gift cards received during the holidays.
REDEmPTioN DoLLAR VoLumE GRoWTH WAS 4.6%
December’s dollar volume growth of redemptions was 4.6%. The dollar volume growth of redemptions continued to grow but at a slower pace. Discounting by merchants and bargain shopping by consumers led Specialty Retailers to post negative year-over-year dollar volume growth of redemptions of -1.5%.
Redemptions represent the purchasing of goods or services with a closed loop gift card.
First Data SpendTrend Closed Loop Prepaid Cards, is based on total year-over-year activity and does not represent First Data’s financial performance. Closed Loop Prepaid Cards refers to merchant branded spending/gift cards, incentive and promotional cards.
20%
-40%
0%
20%
40%
Dec 10Sep Oct NovAugJulMayAprMarFebJanDec 09 Jun
0%
-30%
90%
30%
60%
120%
Dec 10Sep Oct NovAugJulMayAprMarFebJanDec 09 Jun
-60%
60%
30%
0%
-30%
90%
Dec 10Sep Oct NovAugJulMayAprMarFebJanDec 09 Jun
Dollar Volume Growth in Gift Card Reloads by Industry
December’s year-over-year dollar volume growth of reloads was 27.1%, the highest growth since April 2010. Specialty Retail dollar volume growth was 4.9%, down from 11.3% in November and 26.0% in october, reflecting deep discounting by merchants and a bargain-conscious consumer.
yEAR-oVER-yEAR RELoAD TRANSACTioN GRoWTH WAS 37.1%
in December, transaction growth of reloads was 37.1%, a slight drop from November’s growth of 39.3%. QSR merchants outperformed all other categories with 89.0% growth as budget-conscious consumers continued to frequent these merchants.
RELoAD AVERAGE TiCKETS iNCREASED ComPARED To NoVEmBER
December’s average ticket growth of reloads decreased -7.4%, an improvement from November’s decline of -10.8%. As the holiday season progressed, consumers reloaded additional funds to existing cards more frequently.
Reloads are the addition of value to an active closed loop gift card.
First Data SpendTrend Closed Loop Prepaid Cards, is based on total year-over-year activity and does not represent First Data’s financial performance. Closed Loop Prepaid Cards refers to merchant branded spending/gift cards, incentive and promotional cards.
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All data is Prepaid closed data from First Data’s proprietary Prepaid systems.
All charts show year-over-year (yoy) growth based on same merchant activity for current month current year compared to same month prior year.
Growth rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Terms of Use
DEFiNiTioNSPrepaid Closed Loop Cards are merchant branded cards that can include spending cards, gift cards, incentive and promotional cards.
Activation is the initial purchase and loading of funds onto a closed loop gift card. The data shown represents the year-over-year growth in activations by dollar volume, transaction and average tickets for closed loop gift cards.
Redemptions represent the purchasing of goods or services with a closed loop gift card. The data shown represents the year-over-year growth in redemptions by dollar volume, transaction and average tickets for closed loop gift cards.
Reloads are the addition of value to an active closed loop gift card. The data shown represents the year-over-year growth in reloads by dollar volume, transaction and average tickets for closed loop gift cards.
