UK gift card and voucher industry showing “steady growth”

Complied independently by consultants at Ernst & Young, the report revealed a 3.3 per cent rise in like-for-like voucher sales in the third quarter of 2012. Growth has largely been due to the business-to-business sector, with corporate sales of vouchers up by 5.8 per cent over the period.

Andrew Johnson, director general of the UKGCVA, commented: “The growth of 3.3 per cent is an acceptable performance for this period in 2012, and continues to build on the steady growth we have seen this year.

“The figures are more or less in line with the performance from the wider retail market in the UK during the third quarter of 2012, which saw poor performance in both July and August – the key summer retailing months. The Olympics and Paralympics no doubt had an effect on this, with many retailers reporting poor trading conditions during that time.”

The director general also thinks that Christmas 2012 will see a “record spend” on gift cards and vouchers. “We expect this will have a big impact on industry growth for the final quarter of the year. Business-to-business will continue to play a large part as companies look to voucher schemes for their reward packages in the coming year,” he added.