InComm Payments Launches Digital Gift Card Mall

InComm Payments has launched a digital gift card mall that allows customers to choose and send a variety of gift cards via email, the payments technology company announced on Thursday (April 29).

TheGiftCardShop.com will feature cards from more than 100 brands, from Visa, Mastercard and American Express to retailers such as Macy’s, GameStop, Lowe’s and Darden Restaurants. Gift givers can choose to give between $5 and $500 cards, accentuated with designs to fit the occasion and personalized messages. InComm aims to offer delivery of physical cards in the mail by the end of the year.

The company said in a news release that its research found that online gift card purchases increased, in some cases by as much as 22 percent for network-branded cards — a trend that coincided with a greater consumer focus on eCommerce. In addition, the study found that 44 percent of gift card buyers are more interested in giving or getting digital cards than before.

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped fuel the popularity of digital gift cards. Their profile was rising before the outbreak began, but then the coronavirus increased their use among holiday shoppers in 2020.

As PYMNTS reported last year, Blackhawk Network found that more than 52 percent of shoppers had bought or received a digital gift card. Younger shoppers were more likely to be interested in getting digital gift cards, with 55 percent of millennials showing interest in giving them and 67 percent hoping to receive one.

Customers who purchase Mastercard, American Express or Visa gift cards through InComm’s mall will be able to load them into a mobile wallet such as Google or Apple Pay, allowing recipients to use them for contactless payments. The mobile wallet platforms use a token service that authorizes each transaction with a unique one-time security code.

To learn more about how gift cards have made their way into the digital-first economy, read PYMNTS’ March interview with  Blackhawk Network’s Jayson Berg.