oh im not surprised. but i do have a few thoughts

1) if i were a merchant, i do not necessarily want a blanket exclusion for the sale of gift cards. i would think one of lulu's objectives is to get people into their store, especially people who would otherwise never consider lulu. as seen in some of the replies, there are people who think that lulu is a female only brand, etc. so as a merchant, i may not mind selling gift cards in store, but probably not online where customers may not check out the products

2) i do think that $75 per quarter and $300 yearly is too generous given the price point of lulu's products. even if people are not getting gift cards, they could get many items for free or at an enormous discount. furthermore, based on a 2019 sales figure, it seems that customers spend an average of $470 a year with lulu, so how much delta spend can the credits generate?

also, a smaller credit would mean customers take longer to accumulate enough gift cards to buy for free, hence alleviating the gift card issue

3) lulu just lowered their outlook, and cited weak US sales and challenges like higher tariffs. this meant that lulu has other problems, and if their products are not that attractive, just giving credits to get people in store isnt going to get them the results they want or the delta sales that they hoped. this issue is compounded by point 2, so more people will spend the credit, but they try not to spend more than the credits

all in all, im not sure making gift cards eligible for the credits is the primary/only problem for lulu to making the partnership with amex work