Gift Card Market Report 2026: Cybersecurity, Merchandise Competition and Personalization Are Major Trends

Cyberattacks test confidence as API-connected merchandise catalogs strengthen their appeal and buyers seek rewards with greater personal impact. The industry rallies to address the challenges and opportunities.

Security Excellence the New Normal
A Better Experience for Reward Recipients
A Focus on Relevance
Gift Card, Prepaid and Digital Reward Aggregators

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Tracey Klein

The gift card industry faces three connected challenges: protecting reward value, competing with increasingly sophisticated merchandise catalogs, and making digital rewards feel personal. Convenience and choice remain strengths, but corporate buyers increasingly need dependable security, competitive economics and a meaningful recipient experience.

Interviews with Tracey Klein, Executive Vice President of eGifter; Nicole Glass, President and Co-Founder of Gift Card Market; and Julie Barbier-Leblan,

CEO and Co-Founder of Merit Incentives, and an analysis of the LinkedIn posts of gift card aggregators suggest that familiar brands and immediate delivery are becoming baseline expectations. Differentiation increasingly depends on the security, technology, service and thoughtfulness surrounding the reward.

Julie Barbier-Lebian

Cybersecurity presents the most immediate concern. In an Oct. 23 disclosure, Bidali, a gift card management firm, described an intrusion into an administrative dashboard, limited theft involving company funds and inventory, and suspended ordering. The company said it had found no evidence that customer funds or data were affected. Cyberattacks reported by issuing partners also contributed to its decision to keep ordering offline. The AI attacks have spread across the gift card B2B business, affecting different companies to varying degrees.

Security Excellence the New Normal

RRN’s cybersecurity coverage emphasizes that interconnected platforms can spread disruption beyond its source. It also distinguishes service interruptions from confirmed intrusions: an outage does not establish that the platform reporting it was hacked. Buyers should examine fulfillment dependencies, responsibility for losses, security controls, continuity arrangements and protection of participant balances.

Industry collaboration is becoming part of the response. The Incentive Gift Card Coalition held a recent education session addressing threats to B2B aggregators, processors and technology platforms, citing recent cybersecurity events and the need for stronger collective defenses.

Klein sees data analysis supporting both personalization and protection. “The same patterns in redemption data that tell us what to feature also helps us flag risky account behavior,” she says. That capability matters as delivery accelerates. Klein reports growing demand for real-time API issuance rather than advance purchasing and warehousing. Clients also increasingly want rewards embedded in existing procurement, HR and member systems.

Those same application programming interfaces are strengthening competing reward categories, too. RRN’s technology analysis describes how merchandise catalog connections provide current availability, pricing, imagery and product information, reducing disadvantages associated with older catalogs. Klein notes that these connections broaden access while reducing inventory exposure for program operators. “A mid-sized program can now offer the same kind of merchandise previously only seen at scale,” she says. “This is a risk for gift card companies as merchandise has better pricing/margins.”

Actual value depends on the transaction. Buyers should compare product pricing, shipping, service charges, returns and fulfillment terms. Wholesale merchandise economics can be attractive, but they do not establish that every product offers better value than a gift card.

Risk also differs. Physical merchandise requires delivery, potentially providing opportunities to detect or intercept fraudulent orders. Merchandise programs remain exposed through compromised accounts, points systems and supplier connections. Lower risk in a particular fulfillment model does not mean immunity.

A Better Experience for Reward Recipients

Nicole Glass of Gift Card Market considers improved merchandise offerings a reason to strengthen the broader marketplace. “I don’t think merchandise replaces gift cards,” she says. “If anything, it raises the bar for the entire rewards industry.” Gift cards preserve flexibility over where, when and how recipients use their value. Glass anticipates marketplaces combining merchandise, national brands, local businesses, experiences and services.

Julie Barbier-Leblan of Merit Incentives expects differentiation to move beyond assortment. “API connectivity is making access to large catalogues increasingly easy,” she says. “That is very positive for the industry, but it also means that catalogue breadth alone will become less of a differentiator.” She sees greater value in selecting appropriate rewards, integrating them into the participant’s experience, fulfilling them efficiently and applying the resulting data.

Recipient priorities are changing as well. Klein reports stronger demand for dining and everyday retail. “People are using their reward/incentive dollars like cash rather than an opportunity to indulge,” she says. Blackhawk Network reported that the share of US consumers planning to purchase gift cards for self-use increased from 31% in 2025 to 56% in 2026. Its findings came from a January survey of 2,138 adults. These purchase intentions provide consumer context rather than a direct measure of corporate reward redemptions.

Practical usefulness can coexist with emotional impact. A dining reward can support the household budget while creating an evening with family. A neighborhood business can make a modest award feel thoughtfully selected. Personalization therefore extends beyond displaying relevant brands. A specific acknowledgment, appropriate timing and thoughtful presentation can connect the reward to an achievement. A digital card accompanied by a manager’s explanation of someone’s contribution carries a different message from an unexplained code.

A Focus on Relevance

Glass sees location, interests and redemption behavior helping platforms surface relevant restaurants, spas and experiences. “Personalization should feel useful rather than intrusive,” she says.

Klein similarly stresses that audiences behave differently even on the same platform. Redemption analysis can guide selection and messaging without assuming one assortment suits everyone. Barbier-Leblan expects AI to incorporate more context and organizational objectives. “The question becomes less ‘Which gift card should I give this person?’ and more ‘What experience, benefit or reward is most likely to engage this individual at this particular moment?’” she says.

New applications extend the opportunity. Klein reports merchants encouraging gift cards for merchandise returns, sometimes making value available faster than a reversal to the original payment method. Glass describes local rewards embedded in travel bookings, banking relationships and loyalty programs. Barbier-Leblan sees potential in connecting fragmented balances across loyalty, incentives, benefits and gift cards. Greater interoperability could make accumulated value more useful.

“I believe our industry is evolving from a rewards industry into an engagement technology industry,” she says.

For gift card aggregators, success increasingly requires secure delivery, compelling economics and relevant experiences. Gift cards retain flexibility and immediacy; their next opportunity is to combine those advantages with a more personal expression of appreciation.

Gift Card, Prepaid and Digital Reward Aggregators

Company or organization	Listed location	Key themes post themes	LinkedIn posts
Incentive Gift Card Coalition (IGCC)	Minneapolis, MN	Cybersecurity education, industry collaboration against cyberattacks and stronger collective defenses; B2B research, redemption behavior, customer acquisition, global program education and networking.	View posts
NeoCurrency	Los Angeles, CA	Multi-currency administration, relevant reward choice, research incentives and simpler global delivery.	View posts
Tremendous	New York, NY	Recipient choice, familiar payout methods, global delivery and reduced administrative work.	View posts
Blackhawk Network	Pleasanton, CA	Speed, choice, personalized gifting, affordability and branded-payment innovation.	View posts
Dash Solutions	Birmingham, AL	Payment choice, financial inclusion, digital disbursements and governed AI adoption.	View posts
Merit Incentives	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Personal commentary on leadership, human-centered AI, learning, collaboration and rewarded behaviors.	View personal posts
Xoxoday	San Francisco, CA	API-connected rewards, global relevance, automation and employee/customer loyalty.	View posts
Vantage Circle	Plano, TX	Behavioral recognition, manager involvement, everyday workflows and measurable business outcomes.	View posts
CashStar / BHN	Portland, ME—legacy profile	Limited recent standalone evidence; digital gift card commerce now sits within Blackhawk Network.	Legacy posts page
Cayan / Global Payments	Boston, MA—legacy profile	Limited recent standalone evidence; retained as a legacy payment-technology entry. Website links to Global Payments.	Legacy posts page
Swift Prepaid / Onbe	Buffalo Grove, IL—legacy; Onbe lists Chicago, IL	Legacy Swift evidence limited. Current Onbe messaging emphasizes payout choice, security, compliance and global delivery. Website links to Onbe.	Legacy page · Onbe posts
SB Collectiv—formerly Stoner Bunting Gift Cards	Lancaster, PA	Merchant partnerships, gift card program support, eGifter collaboration and community applications.	View posts
GiftCard Partners	Wellesley, MA	Health and wellness participation, program controls, holiday planning and flexible reward delivery.	View posts
U.S. Bank	Minneapolis, MN	Payments-first customer experiences and connected spending, saving and rewards; broad banking feed.	View posts
TSYS / FIS Total Issuing Solutions	Columbus, GA—	Issuing infrastructure, customer migration and transition to FIS; TSYS channel marked inactive.	View posts
InComm Payments	Atlanta, GA	Healthcare benefits, digital wellness rewards, customer acquisition and retention, and accessible redemption.	View posts
Tango	Seattle, WA	Fast payouts, recipient choice, embedded rewards and sales/customer engagement; part of BHN.	View posts
Fandango	Universal City, CA	Moviegoing insights, entertainment engagement, community access and cross-platform experiences.	View posts
Tillo	Austin, TX	APIs, faster onboarding, marketplace capabilities, operational AI, fraud-risk awareness and reliable delivery.	View posts
Gift Card Market	Kansas City, MO / Fort Myers, FL	Local-business and experiential rewards, API-powered assortment, personalized discovery, instant digital delivery and embedded rewards.	View posts
eGifter	Huntington, NY	Real-time API issuance, embedded rewards, merchant gift card platforms, audience-based personalization, fraud detection and security	View posts

Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services

Celebrating our 17^th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:

1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:

ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards since 2020

2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder

Management Academy to enhance future equity value for your organization.

3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.

4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.

5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.

Contact: Bruce Bolger at TheICEE.org; 914-591-7600, ext. 230.