When you sell gift cards online, you get paid before the customer has chosen anything, the recipient arrives in your store with a budget already in hand, and most people end up spending more than the card is worth. A digital gift card also keeps selling when it is too late to ship a parcel — in the last days before Christmas or a forgotten birthday. Below we look at why gift cards grow sales, what the research says, how to sell gift cards in PrestaShop and how to promote them so they actually pay off.
Why do gift cards increase sales?
A gift card is one of the few products that one person buys and another person uses. That makes it work like two sales: the first when someone pays for the card, the second when the recipient comes to spend it — often on their first visit to your store. A few figures from consumer research show how strong the effect is:
- In the National Retail Federation’s 2025 holiday survey, gift cards were the most requested gift, named by 50% of consumers, ahead of clothing and accessories (46%) and books and media (27%).
- According to the State of the Nation 2024 study by the UK Gift Card & Voucher Association (GCVA) and GlobalData, 68% of people who redeemed a gift card in the previous 12 months spent more than its value.
- In a 2026 study by TSG and Bank of America, 44% of consumers usually spend more than the value of their gift card and another 48% spend about the same. 55% say they would try a new business because of a gift card.
These are US and UK surveys run or commissioned by the gift card industry, so read them as a direction rather than a promise for your store. The direction has been consistent for years, though: gift cards bring in new customers and lift order values.
Six ways gift cards boost your sales
1. Cash in the bank before the customer picks a product
Gift cards are paid for upfront. You receive the money today and hand over the goods only when the recipient shops — sometimes weeks later. That is real help for cash flow, especially in December, when stock and advertising for the peak season have to be paid for. Just remember that the balance is a liability towards the card holder, and that VAT on vouchers follows its own rules (more on that below).
2. New customers without advertising costs
The recipient did not have to see your ad or find you on Google — someone who already trusts your store sent them. They arrive with a budget, so the first order is almost guaranteed. If they leave an e-mail address and sign up to your newsletter at checkout, you have gained a customer that would otherwise have cost you real money in ads.
3. Baskets bigger than the card
Someone holding a 50 € card rarely buys something that costs exactly 50 €. They usually pick something a little more expensive and pay the difference, because part of the purchase feels free. That is where the GCVA and TSG figures come from: between 44% and 68% of card holders spend more than the card’s value. Well-chosen card amounts make the effect even stronger (see below).
4. The last-minute gift
A few days before Christmas, a store that ships parcels starts losing customers because delivery will not arrive in time. A digital card has no such problem: it reaches the buyer by e-mail minutes after the order is paid, ready to print or forward. The same goes for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and every other occasion someone remembers too late.
5. Return visits thanks to the remaining balance
When a card can be spent in parts, a holder who does not use the whole amount has a reason to come back. Each new visit is another chance of a purchase with an extra payment, and of the store sticking in their memory. It works much like a loyalty scheme, only simpler for the customer.
6. Fewer returned gifts
A gift chosen blindly often comes back: wrong size, wrong colour, or something the person already owns. With a card, the recipient chooses, so they get what they actually want. Fewer returns mean less handling, less shipping and less repacking.
Then there are corporate orders. In the same TSG and Bank of America study, 81% of employees said they would like to receive gift cards from their employer, while only 41% had actually received one. A company buying a dozen cards for its team at Christmas places an order no individual shopper ever would.
Tip: gift cards sell best where choosing is hard — clothing, cosmetics, books, hobby equipment, tea and coffee. If your customers often ask “what should I buy as a present?”, a gift card is the ready-made answer.
How to sell gift cards in PrestaShop
PrestaShop has discount codes (Catalog → Discounts → Cart Rules) with an amount, an expiry date and partial use, but it has no “gift card” product. You could sell an ordinary product and create a code by hand after each payment, then e-mail it to the buyer — but with a dozen orders a day in December, mistakes creep in and buyers wait until someone gets round to it. This is a process worth automating.
The Gift Cards module works in PrestaShop 1.7.8, 8 and 9 and in multistore, and adds no second voucher system — every card is an ordinary cart rule in Catalog → Discounts. Selling gift cards takes four steps:
- Create the gift card product. A virtual product is a digital card with no delivery; any other product is a physical card shipped in the parcel. Set the amounts as combinations (for example 25, 50 and 100 €), and different card designs as images of the combinations.
- Select the product on the module’s configuration page — search by name, reference or ID.
- Choose the order statuses that issue the cards — Payment accepted by default. The module issues a separate card with a random code for every unit bought, worth the price including tax in the currency of the order.
- Set the validity (365 days by default), the code prefix and your text on how to use the card. If the product has a customization field, the buyer’s dedication appears on the PDF card.
The buyer of a digital card gets an e-mail in the language of the order with a PDF: shop logo, product image, value, code and expiry date. The recipient enters the code in the cart like any voucher — guests included. If they do not spend the whole amount, PrestaShop creates a new code for the rest. In the back office, Orders → Gift cards lists every issued card with its value, balance and status, and lets you resend the e-mail or deactivate a card when needed.
Digital or physical?
A digital card sells up to the last minute and costs nothing to deliver. A physical one looks better under the tree and suits stores that ship parcels anyway — it travels to the buyer with the order. The simplest answer is to offer both: in the TSG study, 27% of buyers bought both digital and physical cards, and 52% preferred to receive digital cards by e-mail.
Which amounts should you offer?
Three, sometimes four, are enough. The lowest should buy the cheapest sensible product in your store, the middle one your typical basket, and the highest a complete present. Avoid amounts equal to the price of specific products: a value just below a popular price nudges people to add a little, rather than hunt for something that fits the card exactly.
How to promote gift cards in your store
A card nobody sees will not sell itself. Places where it is worth showing:
- Menu and home page — a permanent “Gift cards” or “Gifts” link, and a banner at the top of the page in season.
- Gift categories — add the card to categories such as “Gifts for her”, “Gifts for him” or “Under 50 €”.
- Last shipping date — when parcels stop arriving in time for the holidays, say so clearly and offer the digital card as the way out.
- Newsletter and abandoned carts — a gift card reminder before the holidays, or in the e-mail to a customer who left without paying; read more in our guide to PrestaShop abandoned cart recovery.
- Corporate offer — a separate page or a line on your contact page: “Buying cards for your team? Get in touch.”
- Seasonal campaigns — Black Friday, Advent, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day. In December, a gift card goes well with an Advent calendar with a daily deal.
Gift cards also pair well with referrals: a recipient who likes your store can recommend it, and a referral program rewards both sides. Make sure paying for a card is quick, too — someone buying a last-minute present will not wait for a bank transfer. We compare the options in PrestaShop payment methods.
Expiry, VAT and refunds: what to keep in mind
- Expiry. Choose a reasonable period and state in your terms how long the card is valid, whether it can be spent in parts and what happens to an unused balance. The expiry date should also appear on the card itself. Some countries and US states set minimum validity periods or other rules for gift cards, so check what applies where you sell.
- VAT in the EU. Since 2019, Directive 2016/1065 sets common VAT rules for vouchers. A single-purpose voucher (where the place of supply and the VAT due are known when it is sold) is taxed when the card is sold; a multi-purpose voucher is taxed only when it is redeemed. A store selling goods at different VAT rates usually sells multi-purpose vouchers. Agree with your accountant how to treat yours.
- Refunds and cancellations. If an order with a gift card is cancelled or refunded, the card has to be deactivated so it can no longer be used. The Gift Cards module warns you in the back office when a cancelled or refunded order still has valid cards.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice — rules and their interpretation vary by country, so ask an accountant or a lawyer if in doubt.
Sources
- NRF holiday survey 2025 (16 October 2025) — the most requested gifts.
- GCVA and GlobalData, State of the Nation 2024 (reported by PaymentsJournal, 19 March 2024) — spending beyond the card’s value.
- TSG and Bank of America gift card study 2026 — spending, new customers, digital and corporate cards.
- Council Directive (EU) 2016/1065 — VAT treatment of vouchers.
- PrestaShop documentation: cart rules — partial use of a voucher.
Frequently asked questions
Does PrestaShop have built-in gift cards?
No. PrestaShop has cart rules — discount codes with an amount, an expiry date and partial use — but it does not create them automatically after a purchase. To sell gift cards you need a module that creates the code once the order is paid and sends it to the buyer.
Can a gift card be spent in parts?
Yes, if the card allows partial use. When the order is cheaper than the card, PrestaShop creates a new code for the remaining amount and e-mails it to the customer. In the Gift Cards module, every card has this option switched on.
How long should a gift card be valid?
Twelve months is the most common choice, and it is also the module’s default (365 days, adjustable in the configuration). What matters is that the period is stated in your terms and on the card, and that the customer knows it before buying.
Is a digital or a physical gift card better?
A digital card sells until the last minute and needs no delivery; a physical one works better as a present handed over in person. In PrestaShop the product type decides: a virtual product is a digital card, any other product a physical one, so you can sell both.
Does the module work with PrestaShop 1.7, 8 and 9?
Yes. Gift Cards works in PrestaShop 1.7.8 to 9.x, including multistore, where every shop has its own settings, products and cards. The module does not change PrestaShop files, and the cards are native cart rules.
Want to sell gift cards before the holidays? Take a look at the Gift Cards module, or contact us if you have a question about your store.
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