Survey: Holiday shoppers turning to gift cards to keep gifting within budget
Gift cards are likely to play a larger role this holiday season amid tighter holiday budgets and concerns about high prices.
The overwhelming majority (82%) of consumers are setting a holiday budget, and 93% of them plan to buy gift cards, according to a Blackhawk Network’s annual holiday survey. Across several gift categories, younger shoppers are two to three times as likely as older shoppers to choose gift cards instead of physical gifts, citing concerns about rising prices.
More than half (61%) of younger shoppers and 55% of older shoppers surveyed are using loyalty points for gift cards. Among those shoppers, 70% plan to give the gift cards they purchase with redeemed points to someone else.
Ease of sending is the top reason shoppers cite for buying gift cards this holiday season, followed by giving recipients the freedom to choose their own gift. That flexibility can be especially relevant when everyday expenses are competing with holiday spending, the survey noted.
Additional findings from the Blackhawk survey are below:
•When budgets are tight, open-loop gift cards like Visa and Mastercard gift cards are the top choice, preferred by 74% of younger shoppers and 61% of older shoppers. Other desired categories include grocery stores (42%), mass merchants (33%) and gas and EV charging (24%).
•Among younger shoppers, 17% also want subscription-service gift cards, including streaming and music.
•Lower-income shoppers surveyed are also allocating a larger share of their holiday gift budgets to gift cards. Gift cards account for 36% of planned gift spending among shoppers earning less than $40,000, compared with 29% among those earning $80,000 or more.
“With everyday costs putting pressure on holiday budgets, shoppers are being more deliberate about how they spend,” said Brett Narlinger, chief revenue officer at BHN. “They’re putting loyalty points, promotions and other value they’ve already earned toward holiday purchases, while also thinking more carefully about how much they spend on each gift. Gift cards help with this by letting shoppers set a clear amount while giving the recipient flexibility over how to use it.”
Methodology
The BHN 2026 Holiday Branded Pay Study was conducted online July 23–28, 2026. The sample included 2,307 U.S. adults 18 and older who had purchased gifts in the past 12 months and planned to shop during the 2026 holiday season. The U.S. survey was part of global research involving more than 20,000 consumers across 20 countries
