In recent times, gift cards have gradually increased both in their use in marketing and popularity among buyers. This is primarily due to increasing consumer awareness about what to expect. Marketers Media announced that the global gift cards market is expected to hit US$ 750 Billion by 2026. The growing popularity of innovative gift card ideas is a result of its preference during the festive seasons. Whether retail or restaurant, incorporating gift cards into promotional marketing is a great way to be heard. Although it may seem simple, it is more sophisticated than meets the eye and requires a bit of planning. 

Evolution of Gift Card Ideas

A gift card is a prepaid payment card containing a fixed amount of cash for the exchange of goods and services. It is designed to offer its recipient an alternative from having to carry money. 

Hitherto, it was limited to people living in North America and Europe. However, its use has not expanded to other parts of the world, with many more businesses also adopting gift card ideas.  

Growth of Gift Cards

Over the years, companies have moved from traditional gift cards to e-cards. This is due to digitalization. Most online shops are gracefully taking advantage of this. According to Investopedia, companies, and organizations like Walmart, Amazon, and Starbucks still offer both physical and digital gift cards.

Consumer Preference Rate

Although gift cards may be an excellent option to merge with custom retail packing and other outbound promotional materials, customers are concerned about losing cash, due to some notable pros and cons surrounding gift card ideas. Brands and companies that use e-gift cards often put consumers in tight corners, mainly because they are generally irreplaceable.

On the other hand, Physical gift cards usually have to be registered to provide some level of security to its recipient. Statistics about gift cards show that 73.4% of adults decide to purchase at least one prepaid gift card for holiday shopping. Other statistics have given some interesting insights into the gift card trends. 

Features of Gift Cards

The good news about gift cards is that they are built with security in mind. There are key features gift card issuers must know. 

Gift cards are legally activated during card purchases. This means they get automatically activated at the time of sale.

Whether Visa or MasterCard brand, gift cards can be used at different merchants.

• Gift cards have expiry dates.

• Gift cards can be personalized when ordered online.

• Gift cards offer split tender service to consumers who overspend.

• Gift cards allow refunds in cases of theft or misplacement.

• Gift cards allow issuers to boost sales. 

Consumer and Gift Cards

Often, the problem isn't about how to make gift cards, but how to use them. Because, the majority gift cardholders do not spend them before they expire. Others fail to spend all the balance on their cards. Consumers either don't find a product that covers these balances or forget to request for them. 

Also, there is a vast majority of consumers who go beyond the budgeted amount on the cards. These trends have provided retailers with some practical ways to deal with difficult customers and increase profit margins at the same time.

Gift Cards as a Sales Booster 

Companies looking to increase sales can adopt innovative gift card ideas as a means of achieving this goal. Because gift cards encourage consumer spending, which leads to higher profits for your business. 

How Are They Made?

Many do not know how to make a gift card. Like all other consumer products, a lot goes into the manufacturing of these cards. First and foremost, the production of a gift card is a well-thought-out printing process. The logo and name of the brand are boldly reproduced on plastics or paper cards with a unique code.

Then two types of finish are applied to the plastic card or paper. This could either be a UV coating, which is a thin layer of transparent ink applied over the printed image, making it slippery and less likely to scratch (like a polyurethane layer on your hardwood floors).

Otherwise, you could laminate your card; this involves an additional layer of plastic placed over the printed image to seal and protect it.

Types of Gift Cards 

Gift cards come in various types. They are electronic gift cards, barcode gift cards, and magnetic gift cards. Statistics show that a large number of consumers are highly dependent on gift cards when purchasing products.

Since there are different types of gift cards, you also need to ensure you select the type of card that makes sense for your business and helps you achieve your marketing objective. Usually, you do this by familiarizing yourself with the processes involved in making the gift cards prior to the stage where you will put the entire gift card ideas together. 

Gift Cards Ideas

Usually, gift card ideas are inspired by occasions and seasonal events. To many consumers, they would rather buy them from stores with world-class retail POS systems to save time. 

The right point of sale system helps them to quickly get what they're after without having to wait in long queues. 

Notably, it's easier to implement gift ideas for your company when you can outline the target audience and primary objectives.  

Often, you will have to implement different ideas for different types of businesses from the hospitality gift card, retail gift card, bank gift cards, restaurant gift card, or handy for chores.

All these businesses have incorporated gift card ideas into their customer acquisition and retention strategy. 

Importance of Gift card ideas to businesses

• Gift card ideas help build customer loyalty. It enables enterprises to build a personal brand connection with both existing and new consumers.

• Those ideas also serve as a strategy for increasing brand awareness. New and existing companies can consider such ideas to increase their influence, both online and offline.

• They can help you manage a retail business in a cashless society. 

This list above doesn't do complete justice to all the benefits your business could derive from effective gift card strategies. Ultimately, you have to rely on creativity and innovative thinking to drive your marketing ideas in today's competitive markets. 

Conclusion

The introduction of gift card ideas into your marketing efforts is bound to generate several positive results. Coupled with the effective retail business plan and management skills, your business is already headed for success. This article couldn't contain all the exciting things you could include in your gift card promotions. Therefore we encourage you to follow this blog series to learn more about creative ways to market your business in a digital and cashless society.