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How To Start A Gift Card System For Small Business
By offering gift cards for your small business, you can entice new customers, encourage more spending, and improve your cash flow.
Nicolette began writing on small business topics in 2020. After hundreds of hours researching, testing, and assisting small business owners with web building and point of sale software, she is now an expert on all things eCommerce and point of sale. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Nicolette KierNicolette began writing on small business topics in 2020. After hundreds of hours researching, testing, and assisting small business owners with web building and point of sale software, she is now an expert on all things eCommerce and point of sale. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Expert Contributor
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Matt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
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Matt ShermanMatt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
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The best gift card systems for small business owners connect to your POS system, offer a loyalty program, and work for physical and eGift card sales.
We compared several of the best POS systems with a built-in gift card program or gift card software integrations based on pricing, feature set, and ease of use so you can sell small business gift cards at your store and online.
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Pros
Free POS with free online store
No monthly fee to sell gift cards
Customers can check/reload gift card balance online
Attach gift card to a customer’s profile
Cons
Payment processing rate is high for higher-volume businesses
Transaction fee on gift card sales
Why We Picked Square For Smaller Businesses
We love that Square offers physical and eGift card sales for no monthly fee, along with one of the best free POS systems, a free online store builder, and low-cost POS hardware for taking in-person sales. We also like that Square offers specific POS software plans for retail, restaurant, and service-based business owners. This positions Square as an excellent option for smaller businesses.
Note: Square has a 2.5% load fee merchants pay when customers load a physical or eGift card. Once you start processing a higher amount of gift card sales per month, consider a gift card program that charges a flat monthly fee.
All Square POS plans, free and paid, include a free online store builder.
Other Square fees include:
2.5% transaction fee on all gift card sales
$0.50-$1.50+ per physical gift card
2.6% + $0.10 payment processing fee (required for all sales no matter which POS provider you use)
Once you sell over $125/month in gift cards, Square’s gift card program software may not be the most cost-effective option. However, Square’s free POS software and online store builder still make Square one of the most affordable sales solutions available.
While you don’t technically need Square POS hardware to sell gift cards, using card readers and registers lowers in-person payment processing fees.
Customers can send QR code gift cards to family & friends
Redeem gift cards at multiple locations
Customer web app builder supports gift card sales
Cons
Can’t reload eGift cards
Can’t redeem physical gift cards online
Must order physical gift cards in large quantities
Why We Picked TouchBistro For An Affordable Restaurant Gift Card Program
We appreciate that TouchBistro is a straightforward, affordable restaurant POS system that charges some of the lowest flat monthly rates for software like gift cards, the loyalty program builder, email and website marketing, and an online ordering platform. TouchBistro's products connect well to provide one single gift card program, POS, kitchen management, and marketing solution.
If you have basic restaurant needs and are interested in purchasing add-ons
TouchBistro’s gift card program is an add-on to TouchBistro POS plans. You will have to contact TouchBistro for pricing details.
TouchBistro’s gift card program integrates well with other add-ons including the online ordering platform, loyalty program, and marketing suite.
Note: TouchBistro partners with eCard for printing physical gift cards. The lowest quantity you can purchase is 125 gift cards for $110. You can get gift cards from a different source and import them to TouchBistro via CSV file if you’re not ready to commit to purchasing physical gift cards on a large scale.
Additional TouchBistro fees include payment processing fees, which you will pay to TouchBistro or a third-party payment processor, plus a setup fee.
You may install TouchBistro on most iPads, so you can decide how much to pay for your POS hardware.
Gift Card Program Features
TouchBistro Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Add-on
Customer Loyalty
Add-on
Marketing Tools
Add-on
Online Ordering
Add-on
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
TouchBistro’s gift card program features include:
Sell gift cards on an online ordering page, customer web app, and in-person
Schedule digital gift cards to be sent to friends and family on a certain date and time
Customers can earn gift cards as part of loyalty rewards
Personalize gift cards for holidays, birthdays, and other occasions (great for marketing with a coffee shop POS system)
Customers can redeem gift cards at any restaurant location
Take gift cards at a customer’s table and the register
While not directly related to your gift card program, TouchBistro’s marketing software allows you to create promotional campaigns that offer dollar or percentage discounts to your online ordering platform visitors, loyalty program members, and customers signed up for your email newsletters.
We also like that TouchBistro software has a great offline mode so you can take orders and sell gift cards without WiFi. This is one reason why TouchBistro is one of the best food truck POS systems.
Who Should Use TouchBistro
Restaurants looking to pay a low monthly fee for their gift card program
Food trucks and on-location food service businesses looking to sell gift cards from anywhere
Restaurants that want an affordable POS, loyalty, and gift card program software
Customers can send gift cards to friends & family with email, text, and app
Several payment processor options
Cons
Some Clover vendors are predatory
Per-transaction gift card sales fee
High upfront POS hardware costs
Why We Picked Clover For The Most Customizable Option
We like that Clover POS offers its own gift card program for selling physical and digital gift cards but also provides the option to integrate with several third-party gift card software. Clover's built-in gift card program offers over 70 gift card designs and allows you to upload custom images/brand assets, or work with a designer to create a beautiful custom gift card.
We appreciate that, similarly to Square, Clover offers retail, restaurant, and service-based business POS software plans. The company has also designed durable proprietary POS hardware.
Related: You can purchase Clover POS hardware from several Clover resellers and get custom payment processing rates.
Multiple options for gift card sales & redemption, including social media
Physical, digital, & printed paper gift cards
Customers can add gift cards to Apple Wallet
Cons
Transaction fee to use a payment processor other than Shopify Payments
Must buy physical gift cards in bulk
Why We Picked Shopify POS For Multichannel Retail Sellers
We believe that Shopify POS provides a strong retail gift card program for no added fee that works well with Shopify eCommerce stores and in-person sellers. Physical and digital Shopify gift cards use QR codes, and eGift cards can be added to a digital wallet for easy redemption at the register.
Customers can also redeem Shopify gift cards on your other online channels that use the Shopify checkout, such as a Facebook store, or Pinterest, or using a "Buy" button on your WordPress or Squarespace website.
Related: Read our Shopify eCommerce review to learn about selling gift cards on a Shopify-powered website.
Sell gift cards on any of your available sales channels, just like you would sell on any products
Redeem gift cards on Shopify POS, Shopify website, Facebook store, Facebook Messenger, or using a “buy” button on an external website, social media post, etc.
Sell gift cards as part of a larger gift package (such as a book gift package using a bookstore POS system)
Issue promotional gift cards and refund gift cards
Print out gift certificates using your own printer, so you don’t have to buy gift cards if you don’t want to
Customers can add gift cards to Apple Wallet
Sell gift cards and customized gift card sleeves
Shopify also integrates with several gift card software apps such as Gift Up!, Rise.ai, Growave, and Govalo if you like Shopify’s strong multichannel retail sales capabilities but want more gift card functions than Shopify provides.
Who Should Use Shopify POS
Retailers looking for strong eGift card sales features
Businesses that sell on several sales channels
Retailers looking for very customizable retail gift card sales capabilities
Why We Picked Lightspeed Retail For In-Person Retailers
We love that Lightspeed Retail, one of the best retail POS systems, is so customizable for gift card sales and general retail inventory management. For no added monthly cost, you can sell physical/eGift cards, offer promotional gift cards so you can create marketing campaigns, and reload physical gift cards.
Lightspeed is one of the only POS software options that allows you to add gift card expiration dates to drive customers to spend at least the card balance if not more. You can also restrict who can view gift card numbers and balances to improve security around gift cards.
For single/multi-location retail businesses looking for a strong loyalty program and advanced business reporting
Lightspeed does not charge any additional fees to sell gift cards. Other Lightspeed features include additional registers and locations. Payment processing fees are as follows:
2.6% + $0.10 for card-present transactions
2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions
Note: With each new location, you get another register. For example, if you have two locations, you’ll get two registers, one in each location, but will only pay the added location fee. If you purchase a third register license, you’ll pay the added location fee and an additional monthly fee.
Gift Card Program Features
Lightspeed Retail Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Core plan and up
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Core plan and up
Marketing Tools
Core plan and up
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
When it comes to gift card sales customizations, you can:
Set custom security settings around gift cards
Recharge physical and digital gift cards
Choose a gift card expiration date and choose whether to honor expired gift cards
Order physical gift cards from several gift card providers and import the information to Lightspeed
Offer several images that customers can choose to attach to digital gift cards
Choose between several different fixed prices to load to a gift card
Create gift cards with open amounts so customers can purchase their custom amount
Create gift card minimums and maximums to drive a minimum number of sales and protect yourself from instances of fraud
Attach your Lightspeed loyalty program with gift cards
Customers can send gift cards using email/phone number
Customers can check & reload gift card balances online
Accept gift cards at the register, table, self-serve kiosk, & online
Easy for employees to look up customer gift card info & resend gift cards
Cons
Additional monthly cost to accept gift cards
Long-term contract with early termination fee
Customers collect points on gift card redemption, not purchases
Why We Picked Toast For A Versatile Restaurant Gift Card Program
We like that Toast's gift card features are versatile and customer-focused, including the ability to redeem a gift card at the register, at a table, at a self-serve kiosk, or online. Customers can receive QR code gift cards via text or email, type in physical gift card barcode numbers at checkout, or use an eGift card.
Servers can look up gift cards using a customer's name and contact info so even if a gift card gets lost, servers can apply it toward an order.
Larger businesses looking to access the entirety of Toast’s features
Toast’s gift card software is an add-on to Toast POS software plans unless you sign up for the free Starter Kit plan and agree to a higher payment processing fee.
Additional Toast fees include:
Toast POS Hardware:$0+ if you agree to a higher processing rate
Payment Processing Fees:2.49% + $0.15
Related: Read our restaurant POS hardware guide to learn more about what restaurant hardware is available from providers like Toast.
Gift Card Program Features
Toast POS Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Our favorite gift card program features from Toast include the customer-centric gift card purchasing and redemption features.
Customer-centric gift card features include customers’ ability to:
Purchase gift cards and schedule a gift card to be sent at a specific date and time, as well as include a special message for the recipient
Send gift cards using an email or phone number, which is great for customers who don’t remember the recipient’s email or check their email if they’re purchasing a gift for themselves
Choose from several different designs with pre-loaded or open-ended amounts
View and reload physical and eGift cards from an online portal
Add gift cards to their Apple Wallet
Toast’s best gift card redemption features include:
Guests can redeem gift cards online, at the POS, and self-serve kiosks
Guests can redeem gift cards by swiping a physical gift card, using an eGift card code, and scanning a QR code attached to an eGift card
Servers can accept gift cards via the Toast Go 2 handheld POS system so customers can pay with a gift card at the table
Guests can still be prompted to leave a tip after using their gift card as payment
Multilocation businesses can accept gift cards at any location
You may also combine your gift card and loyalty programs so loyalty customers can earn points when they redeem gift cards.
Restaurant owners can easily import gift cards from other programs to Toast, so the transition from a previous program is easy.
In-house & third-party gift card options available
Digital & physical gift cards
Choice of hardware & payment processors
Cons
Long-term contract with early termination fee
Costs extra to take gift cards
One-time setup fee
Why We Picked Revel Systems For Very Large & Multilocation Restaurants
We like Revel Systems because it is a highly customizable iPad POS that gives large business owners their choice of POS hardware, software features, payment processing provider, and gift card program. Its reporting features, including gift card sales reporting and marketing campaign monitoring, give very large and multilocation restaurants an idea of how their gift card programs are performing (and how to improve their program).
Use if you are committed to the product and have a need for high-end features.
Revel’s gift card program is a custom-priced add-on to a custom Revel POS software plan. You’ll also get a custom payment processing fee.
Gift Card Program Features
Revel POS Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Revel Systems is a highly flexible POS system that works best for established restaurants. The software makes it easy to manage multiple locations and a large inventory. It has many niche customizable features, such as drive-thru POS capabilities.
The following are some of Revel System’s small business gift card features:
Sell digital gift cards on an online ordering website
Design and order physical gift cards from your POS portal
Preloaded and custom-pricing gift card sales
Reloadable gift cards
Issue promotional gift cards
Gift card tracking and reporting
Import current gift cards if switching from another POS or gift card app
Gift card integrations include Givex, Incentivio, eCard Systems, Paytronix, LoyaltyPlant, Valuetec, and Synergy Loyalty Solutions
Who Should Use Revel Systems
Very large restaurants looking for a highly customizable business management solution
Businesses looking for their choice of gift card program integration
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing POS providers since 2012. Our writers have tested over 100 different point of sale systems, evaluating pricing, features, ease of use, customer service, and user reviewers. Read more about how we rate POS providers.
Weighted Rating Breakdown
Pricing 40%
Features 30%
Ease Of Use 15%
Customer Service 10%
User Reviews 5%
When comparing different POS software systems, we consider many data points, including relative pricing, the depth of niche features offered, the price of hardware, and any associated payment processing fees. Our lists of the best providers include only apps we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points. The POS vendors we pick share qualities such as widespread availability, accessibility, user-friendliness, and reasonable pricing. We also look carefully at niche features, such as check-splitting, inventory management, eCommerce, loyalty programs, gift cards, and more.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the providers included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
80+
Vendors evaluated
65+
Attributes assessed per vendor
20+
Features weighed
30+
Combined years of experience
How To Start A Gift Card Program For Small Business
To start a gift card program for your small business, complete these four steps.
1: Choose The Types Of Gift Cards To Sell
There are two types of gift cards you can sell:
eGift Cards: With eGift cards, customers can purchase a digital gift card online and have gift cards texted or emailed to them in the form of a numerical code, scannable QR code, or digital barcode.
Physical Gift Cards: Customers purchase a physical gift card to be used in-store.
We recommend selling at least eGift cards since the retail and restaurant spaces increasingly offer online ordering. If you have a physical location with significant foot traffic, consider selling both types of gift cards.
2: Choose A Gift Card Provider
Look for a gift card provider that is within your budget, fits your industry, and ideally connects to your POS system. We recommend a gift card program that’s built into your POS system or a third-party gift card app that connects to your POS because it’s easier to sell, redeem, and monitor gift cards when your gift card program is connected to your core sales and POS reporting software.
3: Connect Your Gift Card Program To Your POS System
If you choose a built-in or third-party gift card program integration, connect it to your POS system. Your gift card program provider will give you step-by-step instructions for connecting your gift card and POS software. Once you make that connection, set up gift cards as a product you can sell and a payment method.
4: Design & Market Your Gift Cards
Choose the look of your physical and eGift cards, including your business logo and colors. Decide whether to sell set gift card amounts or allow customers to buy a custom gift card amount. Finally, set up gift card purchase and redemption policies.
Market your gift cards in-store, on your website, and your social media profiles.
5 Tips To Improve Your Gift Card Program
Here are a few tips to sell more gift cards:
Customize Your Gift Cards: Custom gift cards help you build your brand. To make custom gift cards for your business, choose a gift card system that allows you to upload custom images for digital and physical gift cards.
Advertise Your Gift Cards: Make sure your customers know you offer gift cards and how to buy them. You can advertise your gift cards through social media posts, email marketing, in-store signage, and more.
Combine With Promotions: Some promotional ideas involving gift cards include selling gift cards at a discount ahead of the holidays or offering free gift cards as a loyalty benefit for your top-spending customers.
Offer Multiple Gift Card Options: Some customers prefer digital gift cards, while others prefer physical gift cards. To maximize your gift card sales, offer both options. Customers should also ideally have multiple gift card redemption options (in-store, online, social media, etc.).
Optimize Your Website: Your business website should be a channel where customers can both purchase and redeem gift cards. Make sure it’s easy to buy your gift cards online and offer a good array of products customers can purchase there.
The more you promote your gift cards and the easier you make it for customers to purchase and redeem them, the more gift cards your small business will sell.
Nicolette began writing on small business topics in 2020. After hundreds of hours researching, testing, and assisting small business owners with web building and point of sale software, she is now an expert on all things eCommerce and point of sale. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
View Nicolette Kier's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
We Recommend Square POS For Your Business 🏆User-friendly & feature-rich point of sale system with affordable pricing.Square POS is an intuitive and simple point of sale platform. It offers customizable tools and a variety of add-ons to fit your business needs and reach your goals.Get StartedNo credit card required
