Gift cards get more hip, personalized

A piece of plastic that smells like balsam or plays a familiar voice surely is more interesting than a plain old piece of plastic.

That's the thinking of various retailers who have offered a little something different with their gift cards this year. At American Eagle Outfitters stores, gift-card buyers can record their voices by flipping an on-off switch on the card. After the personal message, the card plays a 15-second holiday song by one of three musicians - Guster, Fall Out Boy or Relient K - depending on the color of the card chosen.

American Eagle tailored its musical cards to its core audience of 15- to 25-year-olds, said Jani Strand, a spokeswoman for the retailer. "Personal creativity is really important, and they like to share their own content."

One of Home Depot's gift cards looks like a strip of green paint color samples, but the card itself allows the holder to scratch and sniff on the Evergreen, Pine Needle and Wreath color strips to get a whiff of the woods. Home Depot also packaged a gift card with a how-to DVD that provides video instruction on various home-improvement tasks, such as painting a room or replacing a sink.

"For us, it was definitely a matter of differentiating ourselves in the marketplace," said Paula Drake, a spokeswoman for Home Depot, "so that when you get a gift card, you get a little something extra, too."

Bath & Body Works features a card shaped like a peppermint stick, with the scent to match. The retailer's gingerbread woman card comes with stickers - a hair bow, eyeglasses or a skirt - so gift givers can dress it up as they choose. The special cards are available only in stores, not on the Web.

"This kind of fits into - especially the scented one - it fits into our brand," said Pamela O'Donnell, a Bath & Body Works representative. "It's a little better than the norm. And, especially with the gingerbread one, it's a little more personal."

Target has holographic cards. O ne shows a trio of carolers whose mouths open and shut; another depicts Target's white, bull's-eyed dog in various sleeping poses. On its Web site, the retailer offers cards with a singing snowman, a puppy flashlight and a scale that indicates "naughty or nice" when pressed.

At Lowe's stores, buyers can reproduce a personal photograph on gift cards.

The photo, gingerbread dress-up and voice recordable cards all aim to take the impersonal nature out of buying gift cards - which retailers cite as one of the few remaining consumer hang-ups over gift cards. Personal or not, gift- card purchases are expected to break records for the holidays this year.

From its November survey of consumers and their holiday spending plans, the National Retail Federation predicted that gift-card sales would climb to $26.3 billion this year, up 6 percent from 2006. That survey found that consumers would spend an average of $122.59 on gift cards this season.

In 2006, consumers put about 18 percent of their holiday budgets toward gift cards, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, which predicted the gift-card share of total spending to remain about the same this season.

Retailers in Hampton Roads noticed more shoppers buying gift cards and doing other last minute shopping during the past week that ended Monday, the Retail Alliance found in its latest Holiday Sales Watch, a snapshot of regional sales activity.

Among the 29 retailers that responded to the survey, more than 56 percent reported that sales had risen from the previous week. Those merchants reported an average increase of 22 percent.

Too few reported comparisons with sales during the same week in 2006 to calculate a fair percentage of increase or decrease, said Jen Webber, a spokeswoman for Retail Alliance. Alliance staff surmised that those independent store owners were simply too busy to look at their books from a year ago to determine the numbers.

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com