No more socks for dad this Xmas

No more socks for Dad…give him an electronics or sporting goods gift card
The 2011 Ezi-Pay Gift Station Christmas Shopping Survey

Don’t know what to get Dad this Christmas? Here’s a hint – give him a gift card for an electronics or sporting store and you’ll be his favourite person, but whatever you do, avoid buying him health and beauty products or ‘experience’ gifts.

Ezi-Pay has released the findi ngs from its 2011 Gift Station Christmas Shopping survey, which show some interesting results.

Despite most people saying they expect to spend the same on gifts as last year (spend of $20 to $50 per person for between 6 and 10 people), nearly every respondent listed Consumerism as the worst thing about Christmas Day. Having to spend time with relatives you don’t like and Christmas Day traffic, particularly for those in Auckland, also made it onto the list of the worst things about Christmas.

Teenagers want gift cards, clothing/accessories and books, DVDs or computer games, while those over 50 years old would be happiest with jewellery, gift cards and books or CDs.

However, across the board, gift cards were the most desirable Christmas gift, with 72% of respondents saying they would rather receive a pre-paid gift card than an actual gift.

This is no surprise, says CEO of Ezi-Pay, Dave Spicer, and in line with international trends that show gift cards are top of the Christmas wish list.

Pre-paid gift cards can be bought for either specific stores or for a category of business, such as the Restaurant Card or the Gardening Card. Historically, entertainment-type cards (Movie Card, Itunes and Hoyts) have proved popular at Christmas, but this year, Dave is expecting to see a jump in the sale of online cards such as game cards, which allow players to purchase online games and in app top ups, without having to put their credit card details online.

“We expect game cards to be popular with parents gifting value to their children, who might be playing online games such as Moshi Monsters, Club Penguin, Sony and Xbox. The cards can be low value, making them the perfect Christmas stocking filler.

“With the continuing rise in popularity of daily deal sites, we are also expecting our new grabone card to be a hit this Christmas. This is great for people who either don’t have a credit card or don’t want to put their credit card details online, but still want to take advantage of the great deals on offer”.

The economic downturn is having an effect on Christmas shopping habits, with 54% saying they will compare prices online and 52% saying they will only buy gifts when they are on sale. Daily coupon sites are also making an impact, with 41% saying they would use these sites as a way to save money on gifts.

And while most people will be hitting the shops in November or early December, a very organised 14% started their Christmas shopping before September, and even more surprisingly, 20% of men stated they had started shopping immediately following the previous Christmas.

Ends