Consumers Spent 7.3% More on Restaurant Gift Cards Over Thanksgiving

Shift to digital seen across the board, proving the need for restaurants to embrace a complete digital guest engagement platform.

Newton, MA – December 4, 2023 – Consumers broke out their wallets over Thanksgiving weekend, spending 7.3% more on gift cards than during the same period in 2022, according to data from Paytronix, the most advanced digital guest engagement platform and a leader in restaurant gift card sales. Cyber Monday continues to outpace Black Friday as the highest sales day across both physical and digital sales. In all, the number of cards sold rose only 0.4%, with eGift driving much of this gain at an 8.5% increase over 2022, while physical card sales dropped 2.6%.

“The focus for most restaurants today must be on Cyber Monday, as that is now the true start to the holiday sales season. It completely outpaces Black Friday,” said Lee Barnes, Chief Data Officer, Paytronix. “This is where brands can make a difference. Our clients see huge lifts when they offer rewards for certain sizes of gift card purchases. But also, this demonstrates how deep the shift to digital has gone and is added proof that today’s brands must be offering great digital experiences, no matter what the situation.”

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Sales during November and December make up 45% of annual restaurant gift card sales, with much of that coming during the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday sales season, according to The Restaurant Gift Card Report: 2023 from Paytronix. The report surveys over 200 brands about their annual gift card sales over the course of the year. On average, consumers spent 6.8% more on a per-card basis.

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The Paytronix data indicates that the desire to dine out remains strong, with an increase in dollars spent on cards at both quick-service and full-service restaurants. Full-service restaurants saw an increase in dollars loaded of 9.6%, while QSRs saw a 2% increase.

Methodology

Following trends in closed-loop restaurant gift card sales, the Thanksgiving Holiday Card Sales Research includes data from gift card sales November 24-27, 2023, including both full-service and quick-service restaurants. The 2021 to 2022 data looks at 367 brands, while the 2023 data includes 351 brands.

About Paytronix

Paytronix is the leader in Digital Customer Engagement for restaurants, convenience stores, and other retailers who seek to build lasting guest relationships. Paytronix continually advances digital guest engagement by developing technologies that uncover new insights about guest attitudes and behaviors that create brand preferences. For more information visit Paytronix.com.

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