Business demand for gift cards remains strong

One year together!

This week at Diggecard, we have been celebrating one year since our teams joined together. It is safe to say that when we merged in October 2019; along with our enthusiasm to create the perfect combination of gift card expertise and technology, we expected plenty of challenges ahead. However, the months that followed threw us all a curveball that we could never have imagined!

Our whole industry, along with the rest of the world has seen rapid change and pressure. For the first time since analysis began, gift card industry body GCVA, reported an overall contraction in the market; affected by a dramatic shift in consumer behaviour and other factors as a result of the pandemic. However, despite all the challenges, there are some real key areas to maximise upon whether you are a retailer selling gift cards, or a corporate buyer looking to engage your employees, or retain the loyalty of your customers.

 Digital is the way forward

With a huge shift in consumer behaviour, more shopping is now being done online. It is therefore imperative that retailers have a digital gift card and that it is up to scratch! Adding personalisation to the gift card customer journey allows customers to send a digital gift card to their loved ones, with a truly personalised message. It is also important, wherever possible to make sure that digital gift cards can be redeemed online to increase the appeal.  

For corporate buyers, digital gift cards can help you deliver rewards, incentives and gifting effectively for employee engagement and customer loyalty - which has never been more important. One example is Christmas gifting this year, which needs a rethink with so many employees still working remotely. Digital gift cards will really help in this situation.  

Gift cards help retailers to diversify

With the retail and leisure sector being pushed to its outer limits, finding ways to increase sales channels and revenues is so important. Launching or expanding gift card programmes can deliver this, and our gift card solution works with retailers of all shapes and sizes. An Essential plan can help a small retail operation launch and manage their own gift card, all set up within a few hours. Our Premium and Enterprise plans help medium and large organisations maximise their opportunities with a variety of technology modules and expert advice.

Businesses are buying gift cards more than ever!

Despite the market seeing an overall contraction, the one major winner was the B2B market which actually saw a growth of 8.2% in H1 2020. This is quite an outstanding statistic and should highlight to all retailers that brands must be available to businesses for customer, employee, member and partner programmes. Just simply adding a retail brand to our portfolio will increase its exposure to our many corporate buyers. 

2021 - watch this space!

We have achieved so much at Diggecard but quite a lot of this is yet to be revealed. There are many exciting new launches coming from us in 2021 so watch this space, and in the meantime, I hope you stay safe and well!