Restaurant gift card sales peaked earlier in the 2024 Thanksgiving weekend with shoppers buying 13.2% more in dollars per card on Black Friday and 17.7% more spent over the weekend, while Cyber Monday sales remained flat vs. those same days in 2023, according to data from Paytronix, the digital guest engagement platform.
The Newton, Mass.-based company also said 2024 saw “renewed confidence in in-person dining experiences with consumers spending $7.8 million for in-store cards vs. $7.3 million on digital card sales, which reversed last year’s trend.”
“With gift card sales surging as much as two weeks before the holiday weekend, it appears that brands front-loaded their gift-card offers earlier in order to take full advantage of shopping traffic both on Black Friday and over the Thanksgiving weekend,” Lee Barnes, Paytronix chief data officer and chief of staff, said in a statement. “Paytronix data also indicate a renewed, post-COVID enthusiasm for in-person dining experiences with FSR [full-service restaurant] sales outstripping QSR [quick-service restaurant] sales.”
Overall, $12.3 million was spent on gift cards for full-service restaurants and $5.2 million on cards for quick service restaurants, Paytronix said. On average, consumers loaded $66 on FSR cards vs. $31 on QSR cards.
For the entire four-day weekend, shoppers spent 10% more, while the total number of cards sold surged 6% vs. the same weekend in 2023. In addition, the average dollars loaded on all cards sold was higher ($57) on Black Friday than over the weekend ($49) or on Cyber Monday ($47).
According to data from Paytronix, the total dollar value of cards sold over the 2024 four-day weekend reached $17.5 million vs. $15.8 million in 2023.
Paytronix Thanksgiving holiday card sales research includes data from gift card sales from Nov. 29 through Dec. 2. The 2024 data included 366 brands, while the 2023 data included 351 brands.
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