Australian gift card statistics & Why you should start selling gift cards online

Published on August 1, 2022
3mins to read

Overview

Many people would like to give a gift card and forget about it, but they're often unused because the person who received it forgets to use them.

A recent report in Australia shows that 18% of all gift cards bought in 2017 remain unused which amounts to 1.9 million people not fully taking advantage of them. The reasons are most likely being either being too lazy, losing the card or forgetting about it altogether.

According to finder.com.au, over $148 million was wasted in 2017 by not redeeming gift cards.

$77.70 was the average left on each gift card in 2017. The younger generation is guilty of wasting the most, at an average of $105.80 in unused credit.

Queensland was the most forgetful state, wasting $50.3 million in funds, while Western Australia was the most diligent in using their cards with just $4.4 million unclaimed.

In NSW, around $61.70 of unused money left on gift cards per person, while in VIC, $74.80 unused money left behind and SA: $58.10 of leftover funds per person.

According to the survey, women are wasting more money than men are. Women have an average of $92 left on their credit cards while men have around $58.

Recently there have been a lot of changes to gift card rules in order to help fight waste. In NSW, gift vouchers must have a minimum expiry period of 3 years and all post-purchase administration fees are included in the price.

Men are better at reusing their gift cards before the expiry date. That means businesses who offer gift cards can't change terms and conditions related to usage. Stores can be fined if they aren't complying with this condition.

A bill has also been introduced in South Australia which will make gift cards easier to use at the point of sale. Terms of use are subject to change but it is hoped that this will be something that the people want, rather than something which limits them.

What you can do

Online gift vouchers provide a great opportunity to increase cash flow. They are easy to set up and manage, and they can bring new customers to your business.

However, getting started selling gift cards & vouchers online is not an easy task for some businesses. For instance: setting up website, create and manage menu items, connecting with payment providers (e.g. Stripe, PayPal...) to receive payment online...

That's why we built VaocherApp to help you automate the entire process from setting up to managing gift cards & vouchers online. All you need to do is to register a VaocherApp account, then follow our automated onboarding steps. You will be able to start selling gift cards & vouchers online in just a few minutes.

What you can do with VaocherApp:

  • sell unlimited vouchers online
  • issue gift voucher in back of house (e.g. in case customer pays by cash)
  • receive online payments (so you can sell gift cards 24/7)
  • drag & drop voucher design (you don't need to pay hundreds of dollars for designer, we have some pre-designed templates for you to pick and go)
  • you own your data (what happens in your account stays in your account. You own all the gift vouchers sold, your customer's info... and you can export all the data whenever you want)
  • and more...

Visit our Features page for more info.