The Associated Press
NEW YORK – Nothing says “I almost forgot you” this Christmas like a $25 iTunes gift card plucked from the cardboard display near the drugstore checkout. While legions of 11th-hour shoppers will purchase gift cards Thursday and Friday, the wallet-sized offerings are not the hot items they were a few years ago.
Similar to last year, customers are cooling off on gift cards because they are finding irresistible deals on clothes and other merchandise, said Karen MacDonald, a spokeswoman for Taubman Centers Inc., which operates more than 25 malls and shopping centers across the U.S.
While gift card sales have accelerated this week, they were slow through most of the season, MacDonald said.
“Shoppers have been able to pick up three or four different items for what they would spend on a $50 gift card,” she said.