Christmas ranges may reach UK stores as early as September, but buying gift vouchers in October is not necessarily about getting caught up in the Christmas rush. According to Mintel research, a quarter of British shoppers start buying this early, with early starters tending to spend more overall.
Spreading those purchases over three paydays instead of one December paycheck makes managing a holiday budget much easier.
Reluctance around a gift card is less than for a wrapped gift. It is a question of whether it will be liked and also whether it still has value once it’s finally used.
The expiry date is not as fixed as it looks
Most UK gift cards have an expiry date, but the rules behind that date vary widely from retailer to retailer. John Lewis gift cards bought through sites like giftvouchers.co.uk can be used for two years from the date they’re bought or last used. The retailer also explains the expiry terms in its full conditions, rather than simply giving you an expiry date.
You start that whole 24-month countdown all over again with a purchase (or balance enquiry), which is something very little coverage of gift card expiry even mentions. A card purchased in late October, presented at Christmas and partially spent during the January sale has a new 24 months from the date of the January sale, not the remaining two years of the original two years.
This essentially means the purchase date stops mattering once the card is successfully used once. An October buy isn’t shorter; it’s just the first of any number of resets that the recipient oversees, and every reset costs the same as the original purchase on the card itself.
Where it is bought and what arrives
A John Lewis voucher can be bought directly from John Lewis or through a UK gift voucher platform such as giftvouchers.co.uk. Both of these offer the same card on the published terms. You can also get the digital version, which is delivered by email and can be passed on to the recipient when you’re ready.
Once they have it, the recipient chooses how to redeem. They can use it in-store or online and check the balance whenever they like without spending any of it. Under the card’s terms, even checking the balance can reset the 24-month validity period.
The buyer really only has to decide how much to give and when to send it. After that, the recipient gets to decide when to use it, what to buy and whether to spend it in store or online.
Two budgets, one card
What can you spend a John Lewis gift card on? A John Lewis gift card can be redeemed in-store at John Lewis and Waitrose & Partners shops, or online at johnlewis.com and waitrose.com (subject to usual exclusions). That provides the gift recipient with more options than a single-use department store card.
It can make the card feel more useful for a Yorkshire household than a present chosen for one particular occasion. The same voucher could pay for a lamp in a room being completed ahead of Christmas, or towards food shopping.
This flexibility means that a change of plan doesn’t mean the gift will stop being useful. The receiver does not need to decide in November precisely how it will spend it or on what.
The date on the receipt stops mattering
Once the Christmas shopping is done and January arrives, the card can still be sitting there waiting for its next use. A voucher bought in October does not have to be spent straight away, and checking the balance can reset the 24-month validity period under the card’s terms.
For Yorkshire readers getting their Christmas shopping sorted early, giftvouchers.co.uk sends the John Lewis gift card by email within minutes. The recipient can then use it at John Lewis or Waitrose shops, or online at johnlewis.com and waitrose.com, when they are ready.
