Overall revenue from gift card sales is up four percent year over year. The number of digital gift cards sold grew 7% in 2023 to make up 34% of the total gift card market and become the fastest-growing gift card segment.
Those were the findings from the 2024 Paytronix Gift Card Trend Report.
“Forward-thinking restaurants are embracing digital gift cards, offering seamless purchasing, sending, redemption, and reloading experiences through mobile apps and websites,” Lee Barnes, chief data officer of Paytronix, said in a press release about the report. “In our latest report we’re helping brands understand that, by viewing gift cards as more than just a sales channel, they can expand their reach, empower their advocates, drive loyalty, and create personalized experiences that keep guests coming back for more.”
Mobile gift cards can easily integrate with a restaurant’s existing app, loyalty program, and online ordering system. This cohesion creates a unified digital ecosystem that deepens a guests’ experiences and keeps their favorite establishment at their fingertips.
Mobile gift cards seamlessly merge with popular digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, allowing guests to easily store and access their gift cards for online orders and in-store purchases via NFC or QR code scans. A mobile-first approach to gift cards also provides valuable data on customer behaviors and preferences that can be used to create personalized promotions, fine-tune a loyalty program and guide strategic business decisions.
Other findings from the report
Digital gift cards are redeemed twice as fast. The average online gift card was redeemed in 16.8 days, while cards purchased in-store took 35.3 days to redeem.
Year-over-year gift card sales continue to increase with 2023 revenue up 6% over 2022. Digital gift cards grew the most with sales up 229% between 2019 and 2023. Gift card growth among full-service restaurants (FSRs) also jumped with sales up around 1% (2022, 2,259,621 to 2023 2,342,083).
By far the most popular denomination are $25 cards, which made up 34% of cards sold in 2023. But $50 cards were the biggest mover with an increase of 17% in sales.
Year-over-year change in holiday gift cards were up 5%, with 80% of all physical gift cards, both in-store and third-party, sold in November and December.
The 2024 Paytronix Gift Card Report drew on data sourced from gift card sales for 241 merchants between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2023. These merchants all had at least six months of gift card sales data starting in July 2018.
