A campaign spearheaded by Consumer NZ has seen several of New Zealand’s biggest retail brands agree to drop or extend expiry dates from their gift cards. Countdown, Kathmandu and Noel Leeming are amongst the companies that have agreed to no longer have a cut-off period in which a gift card can be spent in.
Consumer NZ conducted a survey which found one in five gift card recipients found their card had expired before it could be redeemed. The organisation calculated this could add up to $10 million annually.
Most respondents felt gift cards shouldn’t have an expiry date or if there was one, it should be at least five years.
This is in line with international gift card laws. Gift cards in the US are required to have an expiry date of at least five years, while most Canadian states have banned expiry dates.
Consumer NZ took a look at 60 New Zealand companies’ gift card practices and found most stores, like The Body Shop, Hallensteins and Noel Leeming, had an expiry date of a year.
David Jones, Harvey Norman, Kmart, Mitre 10 and The Warehouse all had a slightly more extended spending period of 24 months.
Meanwhile, Glassons’ gift cards expire after five years, while Barkers, Bunnings, Mighty Ape and Pumpkin Patch’s gift cards have no expiry date.
In its campaign, Consumer NZ targeted 10 of New Zealand’s major brands to update their gift card rules: Briscoes, Countdown, Kathmandu, New World, Noel Leeming, Paper Plus, Prezzy Card, Ticketek, Toyworld and Westfield.
Out of those 10, Countdown, Kathmandu and Noel Leeming are dropping expiry dates from their gift cards.
New World and Toyworld extended the expiry dates on gift cards from 12 to 24 months, while Paper Plus said it was reviewing its position.
Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said it was step in the right direction, but encouraged the retailers to go bigger.
“With Countdown agreeing to drop the dates on its cards, we’d expect to see New World and Pak’nSave do the same.”
Briscoes, Prezzy Card and Westfield all declined to make a change to their gift card policy.
Briscoes said the main purpose of its 12-month expiry date was to serve as a reminder for shoppers to use the card in a timely manner. If a customer did happen to have an expired card, it said it would honour it anyway.
“We follow our customers’ lead and the customers are telling us that the scheme we’ve had in place for many, many years works for them,” Briscoes managing director Rod Duke told RadioLive.
“We have received absolutely no negative comment from customers with respect to this issue. None, nothing in 30 years.”
He said the retailer gets 95 percent redemption of gift cards within the first year.
View the full list of retailers’ gift card expiry dates below:
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Retailer ttt |
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Gift card expiry date ttt |
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Ticketek ttt |
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6 months ttt |
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AvantiPlus ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Babycity ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Bendon Lingerie ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Bike Barn ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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The Body Shop ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Booksellers ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Briscoes ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Countdown ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Event Cinemas ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Freedom Furniture ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Hallensteins ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Hannahs ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Hoyts Cinemas ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Hunting & Fishing ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Just Jeans ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Kathmandu ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Macpac ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Max Fashions ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Michael Hill ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Mobil Oil ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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New World ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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New Zealand Rockshop ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Noel Leeming ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Paper Plus ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Pharmacy Gift Card ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Prezzy Card ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Rebel Sport ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Repco ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Restaurant Association ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Smiggle ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Smiths City ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Stevens ttt |
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12 months after last use ttt |
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Stirling Sports ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Taxi Card (Blue Bubble) ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Ticketmaster ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Toyworld ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Westfield Shopping Centres ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Z Energy ttt |
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12 months ttt |
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Number One Shoes ttt |
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15 months from date of purchase or last use ttt |
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Jaycar Electronics ttt |
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18 months ttt |
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David Jones ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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Farmers ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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Gardening New Zealand ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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Harvey Norman ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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JB Hi-Fi ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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Kmart ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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Mitre 10 ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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Palmers Gardenworld ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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Spotlight ttt |
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24 months (12 months for e-gift cards) ttt |
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Whitcoulls ttt |
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24 months ttt |
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The Warehouse ttt |
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24 months after last use ttt |
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Glassons ttt |
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Five years ttt |
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Apple Store ttt |
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None ttt |
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Barkers ttt |
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None ttt |
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Bunnings ttt |
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None ttt |
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EB Games ttt |
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None ttt |
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Foot Locker ttt |
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None ttt |
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Mighty Ape ttt |
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None ttt |
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Pumpkin Patch ttt |
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None ttt |
Data: Consumer NZ
Other gift card data found from the survey:
• 77 percent of consumers regularly receive gift cards.
• $50 to $70 is the most common gift card value.
• 24 percent of gift card users have been stuck with a card they can’t fully redeem because it’s expired or the store has gone out of business.
• The majority of shoppers unable to redeem a gift card had more than $20 still unspent.
• 50 percent of gift card users have experienced problems with their card including finding it hard to check the balance; only being able to use the card at a limited number of stores; and struggling to find something to buy.
