Gift cards have transpired as an effective way to wish loved ones on different occasions or to appreciate someone’s work. It allows the recipient to make the purchase of their choice. Gift cards are prepaid payment cards that contain a specific amount of money and an expiration date. The global gift card market is currently worth over USD 680 billion and its growth rate is not going down anytime soon. It is expected to bloom over USD 3 trillion by 2023.
One of the most prominent factors contributing to the gift card market growth is increasing demand for gift cards in the corporate sector. Corporate houses are offering gift cards to their employees in recognition of their fruitful contributions. This trend has become widely prevalent in recent times resulting in positive market growth. Another major factor behind the gift card market growth is the advent of e-commerce. Many e-commerce websites offer gift cards to their customers as a marketing strategy. You can read our blog ‘How to boost your sales using gift cards’ to know more.
Giving cash as a gift is considered socially inappropriate, so people prefer to give gift cards instead which leads to the growth of the gift card market. Another reason is that with the advance of the Internet and Smartphones, people can access e-commerce sites from anywhere and at any time which also adds to the growth of the gift card industry. In recent times, the consumers have started trusting mobile retail and payments when it comes to gift cards and traceable gift cards are also becoming popular. People are leaning towards reloadable gift cards over regular gift cards as they can reuse it.
There has been an evident growth in the digital gift card space in recent years. Some studies show that people are preferring digital or plastic gift cards over the paper ones. In regard to environmental concerns regarding plastic, a shift will soon be seen towards e-gift cards.
Some Key Trends Of Gift Card Market
- Gift cards are one of the most purchased gifting options for festive occasions and birthdays.
- E-gift cards are gaining trending.
- Open-loop gift cards growing in popularity.
- People are interested in traceable gift cards.
- Mobile applications are being used for storing e-gift cards.
Gift cards remain a staple of gift-giving and if customers are offered a great gift card experience, they are likely to convince more people to opt for gift card options. People prefer personalized and tactical features in their gift cards.
Gift cards are named Branded or Corporate Currencies as it is the fastest-growing currency with approximately $165 billion purchasing power according to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review. But 20-30% of this branded currency is wasted due to the following reasons:
A financial boon for the Sellers
Corporate currency is a financial boon for the sellers as they get cash upfront and then wait until someone spends the “money”.
Consumers are leaving money unused in their drawers
People often buy and receive gift cards especially during the holiday season but usually go on without using it.
Gift cards are the solution to Crypto
It’s a simple solution, to skip crypto and opt for corporate currency as the merchants are happy to accept their branded currency, and the customers get discounted gift cards.
So, knowing all these benefits of gift cards, you can also become a part of the growing gift card market by opting Wp-Gift Card Plugin. WP-Gift Card Plugin lets you customized the gift cards as per your choice by adding your company’s logo or personal messages. So, visit us today and up your game!
