With so many articles going around about gift cards' effect on holiday gift giving and on corporate revenues, I return to the questions I've asked myself and store employees many times about how gift cards are accounted for in corporate measurements. Corporations keep track of sales at each retail location and the locations are often rewarded depending on their performance. More sales means a certain location is going a great job. I would imagine that on all of the reports there is a redeemed gift card line item singling out the dollar value and percentage of sales are attributed to gift cards being redeemed. Do corporations take those out of the equation? If I buy a gift card at one Barnes and Noble and my friend redeems it at another, who keeps the sale? None of the sales associates seem to know.

There's another question that I often ask sales associates in response to a question they ask me. "Credit or Debit?" I usually respond, "Which is cheaper for you?" They never know. I know that Visa charges most places differently depending on credit or debit. I'd like to know the break down.

Labels: christmas shopping, credit, debit, gift cards, sales