Lots of info has trickled out of last week’s Motivation Show in Chicago, a conference and tradeshow dedicated to informing and educating on the latest loyalty techniques and employee motivation tools. Gift cards have long been a strong motivation contender, and now, in a preview of a new
Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) study; gift cards are found to be worth a total $22.7 billion in the U.S. alone and this doesn't include Third Party or Scrip sales. “Of that $22.7 billion, $8.5 billion is spent on sales incentive programs, $7.3 billion is spent on employee recognition programs, $5.2 billion is allocated for customer incentives, and $1.7 billion is spent on channel sales programs”, says the IRF. Who’s buying gift cards in this market segment? The full IRF study isn’t available yet, but preview information can be found on
Incentive Magazine’s website.