Gift Card Long Tail
I’ve been watching a lot of TV since the break and one thing thats been obvious is enormous number of gift card commercials. As internet and other personalized media get better at delivering commercials that are relevant to the user, mass media like TV are left with advertising a more generic good like a gift card or a store-brand. The other converging factor I believe is the enormous amount of research that needs to go into buying a gift. The amount of effort raises exponentially with the increasing range and variety of products (along with reviews, websites and deals, in some cases). So its a lot easier to give a gift card than trying to sift through stuff. The result, we almost have a gift-card-commercial-long-tail on mainstream media. I am sure 2006 will have a even larger spike and thats my two cents.
So … where’s the long tail? What am I supposed to be plotting the rank and frequency of? Sorry, this may be holiday dumbening in effect.
one tail-lengthening is in WHEN consumer spending happens during the winter season. traditionally “black friday” is the huge surge. there’s this “cyber monday” claim that the monday after thanksgiving is another surge as people surf for gifts at work.
my understanding about gift cards is that retailer statistics don’t reflect gift card sales when the gift card itself is sold. rather, sales figures will see a boost when the gift card amount is spent. so perhaps that lengthens the tail into the new year and beyond.
also, once nice thing about living in CA. by law, gift certificates don’t expire. i can’t believe other states allow gift cards to just zero out… who wins from that?