Retailers Ready for the Gift Card Redo
Now that the presents are put away, it’s time to kick back and wait for the bacchanalia known as St. Patrick’s Day. Or perhaps it’s time to see how retailers are set to benefit from a gift-giving trend in January.
Did you forget those gift cards you stuffed into the stockings last year? According to figures from the International Council of Shopping Centers, chain-store sales for the week ended Jan. 2 rose 1.5% from the last week of Christmas shopping, and were 2.5% higher than the year-ago period.
Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) is one retailer that says half the mothers who shop its stores enjoy receiving gift cards so they can use them on post-Christmas sales.
December has already brought us some winning numbers. Consumer electronics sales bounced 7.3% compared with December 2008, meaning Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) will likely bring home some holiday cheer this year, and jewelry sales were up 6.9%. Combine that with e-commerce sales jumping nearly 18% year over year, and it’s reasonable to expect that online jeweler Blue Nile (Nasdaq: NILE) will post some post-Christmas baubles for investors.
