Now that Christmas is over, retailers are banking on gift cards to push sales to a decent level. However, they are not very hopeful about it. Blaming it on recession, they say that even the purchases being made on gift cards are limited to items already on heavy discounts translating to next-to-none profit for the merchants. Dismal faces are visible everywhere. The business analysts have projected a very depressing first quarter which traditionally is already an extremely slow one.

Recession in the global environment, job cuts and salary cuts have all contributed to extremely low spending even during the holiday season. Now, with that also over, sales are expected to drop immensely. Gift cards were distributed during the buying season so that post Christmas, sales would see a little lift with the card usage. In spite of retailers and shop owners resorting to giving gift cards at a lower purchase price, the figures are not optimistic.

Retail major, L. L. Bean, which usually gives away a $10 gift card with every $50 purchase, is also seeing the effects of the slowdown. This year, the company gave shoppers a gift card at a low spending threshold of $25.

Truly, holiday cheer is yet to reach merchants.