Green Is Good For Holiday Gift Cards

Gift cards made of corn, biodegradable gift cards, gift cards with individual photos and video are the future of gift cards for this holiday shopping season according to Comdata Stored Value Solutions, a national leader in electronic gift card programs. Bob Skiba, EVP of Comdata Stored Value Solutions, anticipates this holiday season will allow consumers a way to give a gift that is perfect for everyone and do it in a way that doesn’t harm the environment. "Gift cards made from corn require less fossil fuel to manufacture, are made from an abundant and annually renewable resource and are identical in look and feel to traditional plastic gift cards,” Skiba said. Skiba also reports that more merchants are making gift cards available, and the cards are becoming more personalized. "Taking your photo and adding it to a gift card makes it a one-of-a-kind gift. Additionally, we’re testing to have gift cards that can play a video as another way to truly make the gift card a gift that keeps giving.” Comdata recently conducted its fourth annual survey of adult gift card purchasers to gain insights into the forthcoming holiday season. Some of the results from survey this year include: 95% of adult survey respondents stated that they had either received or purchased a gift card -- a +24% increase over 2005 survey results. Two occasions for gift card purchases still dominate: Birthdays (78%) and Winter Holidays (67%) 27% of adult consumers say that they have purchased gift cards over the Internet 22% of adult consumers say that they have purchased gift cards at gift card malls (where a variety of gift cards are available at a central location like a Supermarket or Drug Store). In particular, Hispanic shoppers reported that 32% of Hispanic adults have bought gift cards at a gift card mall. 31% of adult consumers report purchasing gift cards for themselves this year which is an increase from the 12% of shoppers who said they had bought gift cards for themselves in past surveys. Adults surveyed stated that 46% of all the gifts purchased in the past 12 months were gift cards. Adult purchasers load each gift card they purchase with an average of $46 -- +21% versus the average load in 2003. 24% of consumers received gifts cards from Employers as a Bonus, Incentive or Reward. Hispanic respondents are more likely to purchase a gift card to give to a youngster as an allowance or budgeting tool. The survey results are based on 600 Internet surveys collected between August 31 – September 5, 2006. Editor’s note: A copy of the survey highlights are available electronically by contacting Kedran Whitten at kwhitten@comdata.com. About Comdata Corporation Comdata® Corporation (www.comdata.com) is redefining the movement of money and information through innovative payment solutions. Comdata provides custom solutions for a wide range of industries such as transportation, retail, government services, aviation, construction, service businesses, restaurants and hospitality. Innovative electronic payment solutions range from credit and debit cards, gift and loyalty cards, fleet, fuel, payroll, purchasing and T&E. As a full-service merchant processor, Comdata’s platforms support both its proprietary and branded card networks, as well as card processing for all card types. Headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, Comdata employs more than 1,600 people worldwide. Comdata is a wholly owned subsidiary of Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corporation (NYSE: CEN). About Ceridian Ceridian Corporation (NYSE: CEN) is an information services company serving businesses and employees in the United States, Canada and Europe. Ceridian is one of the top human resources outsourcing companies in each of its markets, and offers a broad range of human resource services, including payroll, benefits administration, tax compliance, HR information systems and employee advisory programs. Through its Comdata subsidiary, Ceridian is a major payment processor and issuer of credit cards, debit cards and stored value cards, primarily for the trucking and retail industries in the United States. www.ceridian.com