Atlanta -- The prepaid gift card market remained healthy in the first half of 2011, experiencing a higher rate of growth than U.S. consumer spending despite the sluggish macroeconomic environment. That’s one finding of a new analysis on the U.S. gift card market from First Data Advisors.

Using actual point-of-sale data from First Data’s proprietary SpendTrend database, the 2011 Prepaid Midyear Gift Card Performance Update found that gift card activation volume increased 8.8% -- nearly a percentage point more than overall consumer spending volume on credit, debit, and Electronic Benefit cards for the same period. Despite the fragile state of the U.S. economy, the average per card amount activated on gift cards expanded 6.1% in the first half of 2011.