We’ve been hearing a lot about how gift cards have become the most coveted gift this holiday season, as well as their rise to the number 1 spot for workplace incentives, but; do gift cards have a strong hold on the most redeemed item in loyalty programs? Really…we want to know!

A recent study released in the United States, called “Born This Way: The US Millennial Loyalty Survey”, concluded that Gen Y, AKA “Millennial” consumers (those born between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s)  “will change the way companies and brands build sustainable customer loyalty”.

HOW?

• Over ¾ of US Gen Y-ers are more likely to select a brand offering a loyalty or reward program over one that does not offer such a program
• They rate loyalty rewards as their top incentive as exchange for sharing personal information with marketers
• No surprise; social media is on the rise, with nearly ½ of US Gen Y-ers willing to promote brands via social media in exchange for rewards
• Using a mobile device as a substitute for a plastic loyalty card is the top requested mobile payment application

Generation Y is clearly more “willing to participate in loyalty and reward programs than their parents, but they expect reward programs to be free, easy and fast,” says Rick Ferguson, VP if Knowledge Development for Aimia . “This generation also relies heavily on outside information to make purchase decisions—information that is often out of the realm of control for marketers”.

So how will the closed-loop segment of the pre-paid gift card industry capitalize on these Gen-Y/Millennial loyalty & reward tendencies?

I wish I could give you the full report, but you can download the full US research report here.

Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.