Human beings are relational creatures and a huge part of relating with people involves engaging in transactions with them. The reason for this is the fact that no one is self-sufficient and as a result, would need something that another has to offer.

In the olden days, people had traded by barter transactions until money became a legal tender. Since then, things have evolved tremendously especially since the advent of the internet and digitization. Today, there are many ways through which people make transactions. One such way of making transactions is through a gift card

What Are Gift Cards?

They are alternative means of making payments outside of giving out cash. Though it is not your regular debit card, it is a type of prepaid debit card where funds budgeted for future use are loaded into.  They usually would have a minimum amount (usually $10) that can be loaded into it and a maximum amount (mostly $500) that can be loaded into it at any given time. You can read more about it here. 

Types of Gift Cards

Closed Loop Gift Cards

This is the type often given by stores or by a particular retail line to a customer. The import of this action here is that the cardholder can only make purchases from that particular retailer or from a chain of retail line stores owned by the same organization. One advantage of the closed-loop for the customer is that it does not require activation fees while the advantage for the business is that it serves as an advertisement of their organization.

Open Loop Gift Cards

This is basically the opposite of closed-loop gift cards in that it can be used in any merchant environment where the card is accepted. They also can be reloaded with additional funds added to it by the user thereby increasing the funds available in it. It is also able to serve as a prepaid card. However, it requires an activation fee that has to be paid at the time of getting the card. 

Digital Gift Cards

Well, this is basically an online or E-gift card (the E there stands for electronic). It contains a code which is given to it by the brand and then are sent by email to the customer. As can be guessed from the name, it is mostly used online. It has to be noted though that this particular type is getting more popular with people and with organizations today. You can find out more on this at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_card .

Why Get A Gift Card?

It Helps You Stay On Budget

Most times when we go to get some stuff or go shopping, we tend to sometimes go overboard in our activity. This is simply because of the things that the eyes see that was never in the original budget and would want to have. However, with these cards, there is already a specific amount loaded into it which you the buyer cannot breach. Not however that this limitation only occurs with closed loop gift cards.

You Get Discount Deals

The primary point to understanding this is to first remember that these gift cards are owned by brands which are indirectly also doing adverts for themselves. In continuation of this agenda they also give out many discount deals to their customers or cardholders who are essentially patronizing them and making use of their available services. So for you, you are getting discounts while for them, their products are being patronized. 

It Is Flexible

This is so because, rather than worrying about making the right purchase for an individual, you can gift the person with the card so such a one can now pick by themselves what they want. Also, the recipient can now decide to not even make a purchase but rather to pay for a program, or go for an event or anything the person chooses so far as it is within the budget.

It is Safe

This is another benefit and an advantage that it has over carrying raw cash in that, if for any reason you lose your card it can be frozen immediately and you wouldn’t lose any money. The same though cannot happen for you if you were carrying cash unless you meet a good Samaritan.

Custom Gift Card Envelopes

It is becoming very common for various brands to dish out gift cards to their clients or customers since it is also a means of advertising your brand to the public. The question then becomes, how then do you make yours unique and attractive to people? A good answer will be to deliver them in gift card envelopes custom designed specifically for your brand.

Conclusion

The transactional nature of humans ensures that systems that will facilitate transactions will continually evolve. This way, more sophisticated means of handling transactions will keep being developed.

The trend for now are gift cards. And for you and your brand to keep ahead of the competition, you have to customize and make yours unique and appealing to the eye.