New tricks in the gift card business

The once tacky gift of giving money in a card is now coming back in its new form stronger as ever, gift cards. According to the National Retail Federation, gift cards racked in $20 billion dollars in 2004. This is a 36% increase from 2003. It’s expected to go up another 11% over the holiday season. SVS, one of the first companies to get invalid in the gift card business has grown from supplying gift cards to just 1,500 locations to over 75,000 locations nation wide. But this new craze is making retailers very weary. When their customers use gift cards they have to wait at least 30 days before they can receive the revenue. This is could push back some of the merchandise for the upcoming year. How will gift cards affect retailers? Do you think that it will affect them at all