Digigifting
The digital gift card market is booming in celebrations-hungry India. The players are gung-ho about the future.
- Apr 1, 2019,
- Updated Apr 18, 2019 6:07 PM IST
When Chennai-based Sreenath TP completed 10 years at an IT MNC last year, the company gave him an HDFC Gift Plus card. "Earlier, we used to get food coupons or other merchandise as gifts," he says. A digital gift card with pre-loaded cash is much more "handy, offers wider options for redeeming, and has better security features". It worked "like an ATM card, had a PIN and could be used at all Visa merchants".
Like Sreenath's employer, many companies have started distributing digital gift cards for rewarding employees, festival gifting and giving incentives to channel/sales partners. These cards are also becoming a trend in the personal gifting space.
The format of digital gift cards is similar to that of debit and credit cards. They have a PIN, a 16-digit card number and a CVV number generated in real time. They can be purchased and delivered over SMS, WhatsApp or e-mail. "The demand is growing among businesses. Our studies reveal 70 per cent employees prefer to receive rewards and incentives through digital gift cards rather than traditional merchandise," says Pratap T.P., Co-founder of Bangalore-based gift management platform Qwikcilver (payments platform company Pine Labs acquired Qwikcilver for $110 million on March 19, 2019).
"This is because it offers flexibility and versatility of cash and can be clubbed with cash payments and discounts," he says.
Bangalore-based logistics start-up Pikkol sent over 1,200 e-gift cards as a token of customer appreciation last year. "It is a smooth option for group gifting, easy to send, and with a wide number of choices, we can pick the card best suited for our customers. The internal data shows that our customer satisfaction level rose more than 30 per cent last year," says Abhilash Manappat, Digital Marketing Consultant, Pikkol.
The size of the digital gift card market in India has touched $1.5 billion in the past few years. These cards now account for a big chunk of business of big brands. Most big brands such as Lifestyle and Amazon say they are contributing more and more to their efforts at increasing consumer loyalty and brand awareness and will account for a much higher chunk of their sales in the coming years.
When Chennai-based Sreenath TP completed 10 years at an IT MNC last year, the company gave him an HDFC Gift Plus card. "Earlier, we used to get food coupons or other merchandise as gifts," he says. A digital gift card with pre-loaded cash is much more "handy, offers wider options for redeeming, and has better security features". It worked "like an ATM card, had a PIN and could be used at all Visa merchants".
Like Sreenath's employer, many companies have started distributing digital gift cards for rewarding employees, festival gifting and giving incentives to channel/sales partners. These cards are also becoming a trend in the personal gifting space.
The format of digital gift cards is similar to that of debit and credit cards. They have a PIN, a 16-digit card number and a CVV number generated in real time. They can be purchased and delivered over SMS, WhatsApp or e-mail. "The demand is growing among businesses. Our studies reveal 70 per cent employees prefer to receive rewards and incentives through digital gift cards rather than traditional merchandise," says Pratap T.P., Co-founder of Bangalore-based gift management platform Qwikcilver (payments platform company Pine Labs acquired Qwikcilver for $110 million on March 19, 2019).
"This is because it offers flexibility and versatility of cash and can be clubbed with cash payments and discounts," he says.
Bangalore-based logistics start-up Pikkol sent over 1,200 e-gift cards as a token of customer appreciation last year. "It is a smooth option for group gifting, easy to send, and with a wide number of choices, we can pick the card best suited for our customers. The internal data shows that our customer satisfaction level rose more than 30 per cent last year," says Abhilash Manappat, Digital Marketing Consultant, Pikkol.
The size of the digital gift card market in India has touched $1.5 billion in the past few years. These cards now account for a big chunk of business of big brands. Most big brands such as Lifestyle and Amazon say they are contributing more and more to their efforts at increasing consumer loyalty and brand awareness and will account for a much higher chunk of their sales in the coming years.