Posted: Nov. 18, 2011, 7:30 p.m. EST
Holiday shoppers are expected to spend, on average, $9.82 more on gift cards in 2011 than they did in 2012, according to a survey released today by the National Retail Federation.
Shoppers are expected to spend $155.43, on average, on gift cards this holiday season, up from $145.61 last year and the highest amount since 2007, the survey found.
The number of people planning to purchase gift cards is expected to increase to 80.2 percent in 2011 from 77.3 percent in 2010, and gift givers are also expected to spend more on each card they buy at $43.23 per card in 2011 compared to $41.48 in 2010, according to the survey, which was conducted by Bigresearch.
Men are expected to each spend $164.24 on gift cards, compared with $147.06 on gift card spending for women.
Of the 8,502 people polled by Bigresearch, 38.7 percent said they plan to give gift cards for a department store. The next most-popular responses included restaurants (33.8 percent), entertainment venues (18.2), book stores (19.8), coffee shops (15.9) and discount stores (13.0).
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