2015 was a huge year for gift cards. For the first time, gift card sales reached $130 billion, while e-gifting rose 26% and represented $7.1 billion in volume. Here are some of the other gift card trends the industry experienced in 2015 from The Gift Card Network.
- Digital Outsourcing – Most retailers now offer a digital gift card and those retailers are outsourcing their digital gift card delivery to a third party processor. Why? Many third parties offer a higher level of fraud protection and abundant IT resources to deliver a unique experience for each retailer.
- Acquisitions – Everywhere you look, card manufacturers are buying other card manufacturers, processors are acquiring digital platforms and apps, and fulfillment companies are consolidating. This is making it easier for gift card program managers to meet all their needs in one place, as opposed to having multiple vendors.
- The Rise of Aggregators – Consumers want gift cards, whether it's for themselves to use or to give them as gifts. We no longer need to convince consumers or retailers of their value. With that, new distributors are entering the gift card space and introducing new avenues for brands to extend their reach. We are expecting many more new opportunities and concepts to be introduced in 2016.
- Online Gift Cards – eGift cards used to be an afterthought for many retailers, but with the rise of both online and mobile sales, retailers are rethinking their website experiences. Brands that are not featuring their cards online will continue to lose out on sales.
- Sustainable Gift Cards – PVC used to be the prime material used in card production, but now more brands are choosing an environmentally friendly option such as paper or wood. These cards work just as well as PVC with no reported customer service issues, and the card costs have come more in line with PVC. Check out this article on the Paper and Wood Myths Campaign.
Read 4 more gift card trends at All Payments Live!
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