Grocery stores compete on gift card deals

Lowes Foods has joined Kroger and Food Lion in competition for your holiday gift card business.

Starting today, Lowes Foods will reward customers with a coupon good for $10 off a subsequent order when they buy $75 in select gift cards.

The offer, valid on the purchase of gift cards to Bass Pro Shops, Barnes & Noble, Applebee's, Belk and Lowe's Home Improvement, is good through Dec. 20.

Last week, Food Lion announced it would reward customers with a coupon for $10 off a subsequent shopping trip with the purchase of $50 in gift cards. The offer, valid through Dec. 13, is also good on select cards, including iTunes, Bass Pro Shops, JCPenney,  Lowe's Home Improvement, Office Max and Regal Cinemas. Check the store for a complete list.

And at Kroger, through Dec. 11, customers receive four times the value of gift card purchases in fuel rewards. That's double the amount of fuel rewards that Kroger normally gives on gift cards.

That means if you buy a $50 gift card to Macy's, for example, you'll earn 200 fuel points, which will give you a 20-cent per gallon discount on a tank of gasoline, up to 35 gallons.

Kroger sells gift cards good at a wide variety of merchants, including Macy's, iTunes, Lowes Home Improvement, Bass Pro Shops, Sears, Gap, Chili's, JCPenney and many more. Kroger gift cards are not included in the deal.