Gift Card Strategy for Christmas: Setup, Sales & Tracking

Regardless of what you sell, gift cards are a must all year round, but they really come into their own at Christmas, the reason being: they’re quick to sell, easy to give, and a lifesaver for anyone who’s stuck for ideas. For you, they mean money in the register before Christmas and customers coming back through the door after the holidays (and they might even spend over the gifted amount).

Also, they perform really well, better than ever, even! According to the National Retail Federation, Americans were expected to spend $29.1 billion on gift cards over the 2025 holiday season, up from $28.6 billion the year before. And they’re what people want, too: gift cards topped holiday wish lists, with 50% of consumers saying they’d like to receive one.

But, as with everything, there’s a bit of a strategy to your gift cards; a good gift card setup is about more than printing a few cards and simply hoping for the best. But don’t worry, with a bit of prep and our helpful blog, you’ll be well on your way to knocking gift card sales out of the park this Christmas!

Why gift cards are worth the effort at Christmas

Let’s talk about why gift card strategy is really worth pausing over this year. Gift cards are invaluable for businesses big and small, and while they come in handy all the time, the holiday season is when they really make a splash. Here’s why they’re a bit of a godsend:

• They bring money in early: You get paid when the card is sold, often weeks before it’s spent, which is handy when January’s quieter.
• They bring new customers through your door: The person spending the card might never have visited you otherwise.
• People often spend more than the card’s value: According to Blackhawk Network, 58% of shoppers say they’d spend more than a gift card’s value, with an average overspend of $73, so a $25 card can easily turn into a $40 sale.
• They stretch spending past Christmas: Gift card shoppers tend to leave gift card spending until after Christmas, when things would otherwise be winding down.

Plenty of shoppers are already buying them, too. In 2026, 77% of Americans plan to buy gift cards, and 56% plan to buy them for themselves, often as a way to budget or treat themselves later on. So, if gift cards aren’t on your counter yet – they really should be!

Step 1: Decide what kind of gift cards to offer

So there’s a little bit of decision-making involved with how you approach gift cards. Your first decision will be the format, and you’ll be met with two main options, and most businesses benefit from both:

• Physical gift cards are great for in-store browsers who want something they can wrap or tuck into a Christmas card. They look the part, and you can display them right by the register. Plus, you can have some fun designing them and really making them your own.
• Digital gift cards (e-gift cards) are sent by email or text, which makes them perfect for last-minute shoppers. Someone can buy one at 10 pm on Christmas Eve, and it’ll arrive in seconds. 54% of Americans plan to buy a digital gift card this year, so if you’re only selling physical cards, you could be missing out.

If you run a café, restaurant or bar, you could also sell vouchers for something specific, like afternoon tea for two or a Sunday brunch. That way, the gift can feel less like just cash and more like a gifted experience. And if you’re expecting a busy holiday season, our guide to managing festive bookings, deposits and no-shows is worth a look, too.

Step 2: Get everything you need done ahead of time

Like most things, a bit of preparation goes a long way. Thinking things through before you start means that when the questions (inevitably) come in, you’ll have the answers ready. So, before you go full steam ahead, make sure you’ve sorted out:

• Your terms and conditions: In the US, the federal CARD Act sets some ground rules. Gift cards can’t expire within five years of the date they’re sold or last loaded, and you can’t charge inactivity or service fees unless the card has gone unused for at least 12 months. Even then, you can only charge one fee a month, and it must be clearly disclosed. Many states go further, and some ban expiration dates or fees altogether, so check your state’s rules too. Beyond that, decide whether your cards can be used online and in-store, whether they can be used in more than one go, and make sure your terms are clearly printed on the card or receipt so customers know where they stand.
• How sales tax works: In most states, sales tax isn’t charged when a gift card is sold. Instead, it’s charged on whatever the customer buys when they redeem it. Rules can vary by state, so it’s worth checking with your accountant how this applies to your business, so your figures are right from the start.
• How your team will handle them: Make sure your entire team knows how to sell, activate, and redeem a gift card, and what to do if a customer wants to check their balance. It’s much easier to run through this in November than on a packed Saturday in December.
• Your POS setup: Make sure your POS system can sell and redeem gift cards before the Christmas rush begins. If you’re using Epos Now, the VoucherCart integration lets you sell gift cards in-store and online, with every card tracked in one place. Set it up and run a test sale and redemption now, so there are no surprises when it gets busy.

Step 3: Make your gift cards easy to buy

This is really, very important. There’s nothing worse than a lengthy or clunky checkout process that leaves customers wondering if the transaction even went through, or how to send it to their chosen recipient. So here are a few simple pointers for making them visible and easy to get your hands on:

• Put them by the register: Lots of people don’t realize you sell gift cards until they see them, so make them easy to spot while customers are paying. A small sign saying “Stuck for ideas? Gift cards available here” can be just the nudge a last-minute shopper needs.
• Sell them online: If you’ve got a website, add a gift card page and promote it in your holiday emails and social posts, especially in the final week before Christmas, when shipping deadlines have passed. If you’re not set up to take payments online yet, our guide to accepting payments online is a good place to start.
• Mention them at the right moments: If a customer’s hemming and hawing over a present, or the item they want is sold out, a friendly “We do gift cards, too” can save the sale.
• Think about business customers: Local companies often buy gift cards in bulk for employee holiday gifts or client thank-yous. A quick email or a chat with your regulars could land you a big order.
• Give a little extra: A small bonus, like a free $5 card for every $50 spent, can encourage people to buy more. Just make sure the numbers still work for you, and that bonus cards are only valid in January or February, so they bring people back when you need it most. Free promotional cards are treated differently from paid-for gift cards under federal rules, but you’ll still need to show the expiration date clearly, so check your state’s rules before you launch.

Whatever you do, just make sure paying is easy. Long lines at the register are the last thing you want in December, so it’s worth checking your card readers are up to the rush. And for more ways to get the word out, take a look at our Christmas marketing ideas.

Step 4: Keep track of every card

Here’s something that often gets overlooked, and where many businesses get stuck. Once gift cards are out there, you need to know exactly how many you’ve sold, how much has been spent, and how much is still sitting on cards waiting to be used. Otherwise, it’s hard to know whether you’ve got enough stock and staff for when people come to spend them, or whether your gift cards are even worth the effort.

Not every card gets spent, either. According to VoucherCart, only 85% of business vouchers are redeemed on average. But until a card is redeemed, that money isn’t really yours, as you still owe it to customers in products or services. Your accountant will usually treat it as a liability until the card is redeemed, and in many states, unused balances may eventually need to be reported under unclaimed property laws. Keeping clear records makes year-end much simpler and stops you from counting money you’ve already promised to someone else.

So how do you keep track? The easiest way is to sell and redeem every gift card through your POS, rather than with paper certificates or a separate system. That way, each card has its own unique code, and every sale, reload, and redemption is recorded automatically, so you can see your outstanding balances at any time. With an Epos Now POS system, the VoucherCart integration does exactly that, tracking gift cards sold in-store and online in one place. From there, it’s worth checking your gift card reports once a week over the holiday season, and sharing them with your accountant at the end of the year, so your books stay accurate.

Once that’s set up, it’s also worth keeping an eye on:

• When cards are being redeemed: If most of your gift cards are spent in the first two weeks of January, you’ll want plenty of stock and staff ready.
• How much people spend on top: This tells you how much extra revenue your gift cards are really bringing in.
• Which values and formats sell best: If your $25 cards fly out and your $100 ones don’t, you’ll know what to focus on next year.

And when it’s time to look back on the season, our guide to the 8 functional reports you can generate in Epos Now shows you how to pull your sales figures together.

Step 5: Be ready for the January rush

Here’s a word of warning: Christmas Day isn’t the end of your gift card season; it’s actually where it all starts – so prepare accordingly! Once the presents are unwrapped, all those cards start heading back through your door. Around 70% of consumers planned to shop in the week after Christmas, and redeeming gift cards was one of the top reasons.

Gift card shoppers are usually after something brand new and full price rather than whatever’s left over in the sale, so make sure you’ve got plenty of your popular lines in stock. Our guide to inventory forecasting can help you work out how much you’ll need. You’ll likely see plenty of returns and exchanges at the same time, so it’s worth having a clear holiday return policy in place, too.

Don’t forget the best part, though: gift cards are an excellent opportunity to make a brand new regular. This January, make sure to really crank up those warm welcomes, as it’s an excellent opportunity to really let your store shine!

Wrapping up your gift card strategy

For the little effort involved, gift cards are a bit of a no-brainer. You get the money in December, last-minute shoppers have something to buy, and a lot of those cards get spent in January, when business is usually slow.

Just don’t treat them as an afterthought. Set things up now, put the cards somewhere customers can see them, and keep track of what you’ve sold. Then when someone at the register can’t decide, you can point them to a gift card.