Indianapolis Star: New card makes credit a present

Chris O’Malley writes about the surge in interest in gift cards.

“The proliferation of gift cards is tremendous,” said Robert G. Markey Jr., vice president of consumer retail financial services at Bain & Co. in New York. Bain estimates that sales of gift cards — proprietary store cards and Visa/MasterCard versions — have grown from about $13 billion in 1998 to $38 billion in 2002, and “this may be on the low side,” Markey said.