How to produce a gift card trends report

A gift card trends report should explain what is changing, why those shifts matter and which businesses are responding effectively. Its value comes from connecting consumer behaviour, program economics and technology with practical decisions about products, partnerships and investment.

Producing a trends report for the gift card industry requires more than collecting market statistics. The report needs a clear audience, reliable evidence and an analytical viewpoint. That viewpoint becomes especially useful when it balances national Australian patterns with differences between metropolitan centres, regional markets and international markets served by Australian suppliers.

Set the scope and audience

Define the report as a market intelligence product rather than a general industry review. Cover issuance and redemption separately, and distinguish open-loop cards from merchant-specific or closed-loop programs. Consider physical and digital formats, consumer programs, employee incentives, loyalty schemes and promotional products as distinct segments.

Set a practical time frame, such as current conditions plus a three-year outlook. Identify the decisions readers need to make and turn them into research questions about activation, redemption, breakage, merchant acceptance, digital adoption, fraud and corporate reward budgets. Comparisons with New Zealand and selected Asia-Pacific markets can add context without obscuring domestic realities.

Australia’s geography makes segmentation important. Melbourne has a dense network of retailers, hospitality venues and smaller businesses that can support local voucher programs, while Sydney has a large concentration of corporate employers and incentive buyers. A national average can conceal meaningful differences between these centres, regional towns and remote communities.

Build a reliable evidence base

Triangulate evidence across published sources, primary interviews and behavioural data. Start with issuer reports, Australian Bureau of Statistics retail data, payment-network information, regulatory publications and credible industry landscape research. Record the age and methodology of every source so that projections are not presented as observed market results.

Primary research should include issuers, merchants, program managers, technology suppliers, fulfilment partners and corporate buyers. Interviews with regional participants are particularly valuable because national roadmaps may overlook shipping costs and merchant capability outside capital cities. Australian users commonly “load” or “top up” value, and they often use “voucher” as a broad term for both gift cards and prepaid products; familiar language can reveal confusion that formal product terminology hides.

Where access to aggregate transaction data is available, analyse activation rates, time to redemption, average basket value, expiry patterns and channel usage. Surveys can measure preferences and awareness, but stated intentions should not be treated as actual behaviour. Sample sizes, sampling methods, seasonal timing and confidence intervals must accompany the findings.

Identify the forces shaping the market

Digital delivery, mobile wallets and scan-to-redeem technology continue to change expectations around speed and convenience. Yet physical cards remain relevant for customers without reliable mobile access, for recipients who prefer tangible products and for purchases involving unfamiliar technology. Trends should therefore focus on channel coexistence rather than treating digital growth as the end of physical gift cards.

Large everyday networks such as Woolworths and Coles demonstrate that Australian gift cards are not confined to luxury purchases or specialist retailers. They can support repeat behaviour tied to groceries, household goods and seasonal spending. In corporate programs, reward buyers often describe budgets around the “Christmas bonus” and the end of the financial year, creating distinct purchasing periods that differ from northern-hemisphere retail calendars.

Regulation and program economics shape commercial outcomes as strongly as consumer preferences. Research the roles of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and state and territory consumer regulators. Examine expiry rules, fees, unused value, fraud, chargebacks and merchant funding, while noting where prepaid-program anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing obligations apply.

Convert findings into useful insights

Group the evidence into defensible themes, such as embedded value, omnichannel redemption, experience-led rewards and the growth of incentive products outside traditional human-resources functions. Each theme should combine evidence, scale, direction, confidence and commercial implications. This prevents a collection of interesting statistics from becoming an unconnected list of observations.

Explain the metrics carefully. The value issued is not the same as revenue, redemption is not profit and unredeemed value has several interpretations. Breakage may indicate weak engagement, deliberate saving behaviour or an attractive float, depending on the program. Compare cohorts, merchant categories and customer groups, but avoid attributing every change to a single cause without supporting evidence.

Map the ecosystem around each trend. Issuers depend on merchant acceptance, technology providers, fulfilment networks, workplace buyers and customer data. For Australian programs serving regional areas, partnerships with Australia Post or local fulfilment operators can materially affect cost and reliability. This ecosystem view helps reveal which partnerships are practical rather than merely topical.

Publish for influence and action

Design the report around decisions, not document length. A concise core can contain the market outlook, priority trends, evidence highlights and implications, while the methodology, source notes and detailed charts sit in an appendix. Use clear labels, consistent currency and Australian date formats. Mark the difference between measured data, estimates and forecasts, and include a date beside volatile figures.

Distribute the findings through channels used by the intended audience. For The Gift Club’s professional audience, a member briefing, webinar, media feature and supplier discussion can each serve a different purpose: awareness, credibility, education and commercial introductions. Australian buyers often forward useful material internally, so reports with branded summaries and permission to cite key statistics are more likely to remain in circulation.

Treat publication as the beginning of the report’s working life. Maintain a quarterly update cycle for fast-moving indicators, version significant revisions and track which findings influence campaigns, partnerships or investment decisions. A well-evidenced report then becomes a durable market reference, a credible conversation starter and a source of new commercial opportunities.