Retailers participating in prepaid gift card schemes are accessing a market worth more than £7bn annually, according to a new industry report.
The Saving the High Street Report by One4all - the market-leading multi-retailer gift card supplier - says multi-store gift cards play an increasingly important role in helping high street retailers tackle a sharp fall in their share of consumer spending.

The report highlights a growing preference in the UK for open-loop, prepaid gift cards, with 57% of consumers now preferring this more flexible choice to single brand gift cards and vouchers. These cards are seeing the fastest growth in the sector, 30% year-on-year.

In addition to the £5bn estimated to be loaded annually onto such cards, research indicates that consumers typically top up their gift card spending by 40%, making the total consumer spend related to prepaid gift cards worth in excess of £7bn each year.

One4all group director Declan Byrne says: "Prepaid gift cards are becoming a major source of income for many high street retailers at a time when they are facing a sharp erosion of their share of consumer spending.

"Evidence in this report points to how prepaid gift cards encourage people to rediscover what a pleasurable experience shopping on the high street can be, with research indicating that cards will be used to try out stores that they might not ordinarily visit.

"Of those that do, 32% of shoppers say they are more likely to become repeat shoppers, delivering an even greater return for the retailer."

The report highlights the breadth of UK retailers now opting to participate in multi-store gift card schemes such as One4All, which is sold through 11,500 UK post offices.

Fashion, beauty products and treatments are the big winners, but One4All says garden retailers are amongst those seeing significant numbers of customers coming to them to use their gift cards.