Gift card industry's latest trend: personalization

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Gift Card Impressions

Kansas City-based Gift Card Impressions has signed contracts with a number of brands, including Starbucks, to create custom displays and gift packaging. Pictured is the Starbucks display, which includes Starbucks gift cards, packaged coffee and gift bags.

Leslie Collins

Web Producer- Kansas City Business Journal

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In the past, gift cards have been viewed as impersonal or a cop-out, but the industry is changing. And gift cards are getting personalized.

Gift cards are now a $118 billion industry, and it's the fastest-growing gifting category, said Brett Glass, CEO of Kansas City-based Gift Card Impressions LLC.

Gift cards represent about 14 percent of all gift giving in the U.S., and sales are growing at a rate of 5 percent. Digital gift cards also are gaining momentum, with a 50 percent sales growth compared with last year.

"The average family is now giving or receiving about 12 gift cards per year. That's a big number," Glass said.

One of the biggest trends is digital gift cards which allow givers to skip physically mailing a gift and deliver the gift card to someone's email or mobile phone.

"If you want it to arrive immediately, you just can't get that with a physical card," he said.

Another driver of growth is the advent of personalization, and Gift Card Impressions is at the forefront. The company offers a variety of ways to personalize a physical or digital gift card. To accompany the gift card, givers can create a personalized digital greeting card, photo book or video greeting. The digital animations can be personalized with captions, music and photos. The personalization platform is available on Gift Card Impressions' website, but retailers and brands also are using the technology. Applebee's, for example, recently redesigned its gift-giving experience with Gift Card Impressions' technology. Gift givers can add personal touches, such as photos or video messages, and there's also a digital animation in which the gift card pops out of a wrapped present.

Leslie covers retail and restaurants, and creates Web stories and other online content.