gift card-o-rama
More and more, the gift card is emerging as a popular way of telling someone you care for them this season, by providing them with a license to shop. Some feel they're impersonal or lazy, but if you're drawing blanks in the idea department, or have someone who's difficult to buy for, they fill the void. For me, the trick is to also give something small, personal and/or homemade with the gift card - mix CDs, jewellery, etc. In the old days, you gave paper certificates in a plain envelope. Now, gift card presentations run the spectrum, from a cash register receipt straight from the till (Body Shop) to a debit card encased in a compact encased in a box encased in a satiny bag (Sephora). We're nearing the point where unwrapping a gift card will require more effort than the large present your loved one spent 20 minutes fussing over. As presentation grows fancier, a gaze into the Warehouse crystal ball shows many possibilities for retailers to pep up their gift cards......