The future of gift giving could see more people receiving pre-paid credit cards as opposed to vouchers, one expert has predicted.

Companies find plastic cards much easier to administer than paper alternatives, suggested Kevin Harrington, managing director at Global Prepaid Exchange.

"There clearly is a trend towards cards rather than paper and there's a whole bunch of good reasons why that works for everyone," he continued.

Mr Harrington pointed out that credit cards are much easier to trace if they are lost, which could make them more favourable with retailers.

It was announced last week that Which? is to lodge a super-complaint about some of the excessive charges imposed by retailers on debit and credit card customers.

The group revealed that budget airlines are among the worst offenders, as are cinemas, hotels and even some local authorities.

As a result, the Office of Fair Trading is being asked to conduct an investigation.