Gift Card Kiosk News
The 7th annual comprehensive benchmark report of 100 U.S. merchants’ digital gift card offerings across 135+ criteria is here.
Conducted by NAPCO Research in partnership with Blackhawk Network (BHN)—a gift card pioneer and global industry leader—this report is packed with actionable insights and other information you can use to improve your gift card program right now, including:
• The many benefits of an effective gift card program
• Insights into what the nation’s top merchants are doing
• What to look for in your own program (or to include in your new program)
digital gift card exchange
For the seventh consecutive year, NAPCO Research and Blackhawk Network (BHN) have collaborated to produce their market-leading report on the gift card industry. This in-depth, comprehensive benchmark study offers readers the following
• A thorough assessment of 100 U.S. merchants’ e-commerce gift card programs, including the purchaser and recipient experience for both digital and physical cards of the brands’ own gift card, based upon 135 unique criteria;
• Best practices that can be implemented within your own company’s gift card program;
• Benchmark data to compare the performance of your own gift card program vs. direct competitors and the industry at large; and
• The opportunity to learn about new and innovative approaches to optimize gift card performance.
Tap Into Gift Cards for Major Revenue Potential
The U.S. gift card market is forecasted to produce a CAGR +6% during 2024-2028, reaching a value of $267.3 billion by 2028
. In addition, digital gift cards are expected to record a CAGR of +8% during 2024-2028, reaching $115.3 billion by 2028. Digital gift cards are forecasted to account for nearly 43% of total gift card spending by 2028.
Furthermore, gift cards were the No. 1 most requested gift for the 2023 holiday season, marking the 17th consecutive year it has been atop consumers’ holiday wish lists2. Total gift card spending was expected to reach $29.3 billion for the 2023 holiday season, up from $28.6 billion in 2022, with the top card categories forecasted to be restaurant (30%), bank-issued (26%) and department store (26%).
With this data in mind, merchants should be seeking to capitalize on growing consumer demand for gift cards by optimizing their programs for success. That includes catering to the wants and needs of multiple types of gift card purchasers (e.g., gift-givers, self-use buyers, bulk business buyers) and recipients (e.g., gift recipients, customers receiving refunds, reward and returns recipients). To help them do that, this report contains best practices and real-world examples from merchants’ gift card programs that can be implemented by all.
What’s New This Year
1. A customer loyalty trend synopsis, including actionable tips for integrating loyalty and gift card programs.
2. New verticals were added to the benchmark assessment, including entertainment, gaming, online services, and travel.
3. Scoring broken out by brand-only gift card programs as well as those that sell gift cards from multiple brands (i.e., gift card mall).