Gift Card Ideas: How to Sell Gift Cards in 2026

The best gift card ideas link your products to a customer’s pain point: trying to find the right gift for their loved ones. 

The Tremendous 2026 report found one in five US consumers have bought a gift card in the past 12 months. As a result, the global gift card market is projected to reach $2.22 trillion by 2034. 

This guide shares the benefits of gift cards, how to set them up on Shopify, and the best gift card ideas for your business. 

What is a gift card?

A gift card (or gift certificate) is a prepaid voucher that’s valid for purchases at a particular brick-and-mortar or ecommerce store. Gift cards are loaded with a specific amount of cash at the time of purchase.

The card is no longer valid once it expires or the gift recipient has redeemed its value. According to federal regulations, there’s a minimum expiry of five years once activated.

Physical vs. digital gift cards

There are two types of gift cards:

1. Physical. Tangible gift cards, typically the size and shape of a credit card that fit neatly into a customer’s wallet.
2. Digital. E-gift cards are digital tokens that function like physical gift cards but are delivered by email or through apps.

The 2025 report from TSG Payments found one in three consumers purchase a mix of physical and digital gift cards depending on the occasion. 

Clothing retailer Slam Jam, for example, lets customers add a digital card to their Wallet app and receive a push notification to spend it as they pass by. “Now we can really offer a seamless omnichannel experience; online or in store is the same,” says Stefan Micucci, Slam Jam’s store manager. 

Open-loop vs. closed-loop gift cards

When a named retailer like Starbucks issues a gift card directly, that’s called a closed-loop gift card. An open-loop gift card is issued by a major payment network (like Visa) and recipients can use it almost anywhere. 

The same 2026 Tremendous report found open-loop gift cards from Visa, Mastercard, and American Express are most popular amongst Gen Z. 

Benefits of offering gift cards to customers

Benefits of selling gift cards include: 

• Managing cash flow. When a customer purchases a gift card from your online store, you get paid right away—even if the value isn’t redeemed for months, if at all. (Gift cards frequently go unused.) 
• Reaching new audiences. Some 57% of shoppers would be prompted to try a new business if they received a gift card.
• Increasing sales. Gift cards give people a reason to shop and lift average order value (AOV). Shoppers spend $108 more than the card’s value, on average.
• Building customer loyalty. Use gift cards as an incentive for repeat purchases. Polysleepgives a $25 to $50 gift card when loyal customers refer a friend who makes a purchase.

When to sell gift cards: Holiday and seasonal timing

Gift cards can be part of a sales strategy during holidays. A report from Javelin Strategy & Research shows the percentage of people giving gift cards by occasion: 

Q4 and BFCM: The seasonal surge

Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the peak shopping season, with Shopify store owners generating $14.6 billion in sales in 2025. Gift cards claimed a sizable chunk: Holiday shoppers in the US were expected to spend $29 billion on gift cards last year, making them the second-most popular gift. 

Off-peak occasions

Craft retail campaigns around other top occasions, like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and graduation, to capture off-peak demand. Map these campaigns to a promotional calendar, linking gift cards to events your customers celebrate.

Gift card ideas for small businesses

1. Product gift cards
2. Task and service gift cards
3. Gift cards that give back
4. Subscription service gift cards
5. Gift basket gift cards
6. Class or event gift cards

Browse gift card categories and examples, and find unique gift card ideas for your business:

1. Product gift cards

Product gift cards can be redeemed for items that your brand sells like food, books, clothing, and tech devices. Gift card buyers don’t need to know the recipient’s size, preferred colors, or dietary restrictions. Instead, the recipient will select their own products when they redeem the voucher, thereby becoming a new customer of your brand. 

2. Task and service gift cards

Offering task or service gift cards lets customers give the gift of time. Forte Fitness, for example, offers digital gift cards that can be redeemed at their gym through fitness classes, personal training sessions, or cardio dance sessions.

3. Gift cards that give back

If your company donates a percentage of profits, offer gift cards to help your customers support local (or global) organizations. Proving your business values align with theirs can make 53% of people feel more connected with your brand.

Bombas, for example, runs a “Giving back” program. Every purchase goes toward a clothing donation for people experiencing homelessness.

4. Subscription service gift cards

Some 54% of shoppers are moving toward gifting experiences. A subscription is a unique play on that: Recipients can get multiple deliveries from the same gift. 

For example, Pot Gang gift subscription boxes help recipients get started growing their own indoor herb gardens. They can get up to a year’s worth of gardening products from one gifted subscription.

5. Gift basket gift cards

A gift card redeemable on a gift basket introduces a range of products to someone who is familiar with your brand but hasn’t tried all your products. To spread the love, you could even partner with complementary brands to make their products available in the gift baskets.

6. Class or event gift cards

Offer classes, tutorials, or experience gifts that complement your inventory. Nonna Live, for example, sells olive oil online and hosts live cooking classes via Zoom. 

How to set up and sell gift cards on Shopify 

1. Choose your gift card format
2. Add and design your gift card product
3. Set your denominations and amounts
4. Connect gift cards to Shopify POS
5. Publish and promote

Follow these steps to start selling your own gift cards on Shopify:

1. Choose your gift card format 

Decide whether you’ll provide physical gift cards, e-gift cards, or both. Think about your target audience, where you operate (ecommerce, retail, or both), and whether you’re OK with incurring the additional costs associated with physical gift cards. 

2. Add and design your gift card product

In your Shopify admin, navigate to Products > Gift cards. Press Add a gift card product, then add extra information like a title and gift card denominations. You’ll also be able to add a unique gift card design at this stage. 

3. Set your denominations and amounts

Once you add a new gift card, you’ll be able to set gift card values in Shopify. The limit for gift cards you create via the Shopify admin is $2,000. 

Evaluate sales history inside Shopify Analytics to land on a minimum denomination. Sidekick, the AI assistant baked into Shopify, can do this to make the decision for you. 

4. Connect gift cards to Shopify POS

If you’re accepting gift cards as a payment method in-store, enable it from your Shopify POS admin:

1. Tap …
2. Choose Settings.
3. Click Checkout. 
4. Find Payments. 
5. Tap Gift cards to activate or deactivate. 

5. Publish and promote

Publish the gift card as a product, add it to navigation/collections, and include it in campaigns. Update your digital gift card as needed. 

To distribute physical cards with Shopify, order cards with a unique barcode or QR code on the back. You’ll scan and activate the card via Shopify POS. 

How to promote and market your gift cards

• Discount and bonus card strategies
• Gift cards as loyalty and store credit
• Email and abandoned-cart promotions
• Omnichannel redemption across online and POS

A retail advertising strategy combines online and offline campaigns, including email, social media, in-store displays, and experiential retail. Gift card marketing might be part of your year-round advertising strategy with a focus on Q4, the busiest shopping season. Market gift cards through each of those channels:

Discount and bonus card strategies

A bonus card offer happens when brands sell gift cards at a set value and provide an extra credit incentive for their purchase. For example, spend $50 and get $10.

This suggestive selling strategy can help bump up AOV by enticing shoppers to reach the amount required to get the bonus. 

Gift cards as loyalty and store credit

Gift cards can function as rewards, refunds, and service recovery credits. Research from the Blackhawk Network found that nearly half of loyalty point redemptions in 2025 were for gift cards.

Email and abandoned-cart promotions

Use Shopify Messaging to create email marketing campaigns based on a seasonal calendar or triggers to keep your brand top of mind.

This might include:

• A gift card highlight in your newsletter
• A dedicated seasonal campaign around a holiday or promotion window
• Discount emails targeting shoppers who haven’t yet purchased

Layer in automation to capture the 70% of carts that are abandoned. Shopify Messaging’s abandoned cart email automation includes a personalized link to the customer’s cart, including the items they left. Add a gift card block to the bottom for those still on the fence.

Omnichannel redemption across online and POS

A click-and-mortar business model integrates online and in-store selling. It’s a popular way to shop: Salsify’s 2026 report found 67% of shoppers research a product online before buying it in store. Just over half do it the opposite way.

Shopify POS supports this kind of cross-channel redemption, letting customers buy a gift card online and use it in a physical store, or vice versa. 

Lulu and Georgia uses this Shopify feature to manage omnichannel gift cards. “Rolling out new programs like promotions or gift card capabilities has become simple and resource-efficient, compared to the traditional approach of building them ourselves,” says VP of engineering Anis Tayebali,.