Gift cards seem like a basic concept, used in place of cash. However, gift cards have become their own currency, with their own set of trends and advantages. Here are three ways gift cards are more powerful than cash and why they could be considered their own type of currency.

In the heat of the holiday shopping season, merchants ask themselves things like, “How many consumers are shopping on mobile?,” or “What will my omnichannel mix look like this year?”, and “How do we balance the quantity and timing of discounts and promotions?” Let’s take a fresh look at each of these questions:

Did you know that over the last 9 years, gift cards have been one of the most requested holiday gifts? Almost 60% of consumers that celebrate the holiday season would prefer to receive a gift card over any other holiday gift. Let’s take a closer look at why gift cards make the perfect holiday gift for everyone on your corporate gift list.

With the holiday season rapidly approaching retailers are planning for the end of the year buying frenzy. Last year total holiday sales increase by 3%. For the last 9 years, gift cards have been one of the most requested holiday gifts. Almost 60% of consumers that celebrate the holiday season would prefer to receive a gift card.

We recently discussed how 63 percent of companies were spending more than $100,000 annually on employee travel expenses. With more and more employers using telecommuting and teleconferencing, the need for business travel has slowed down, but not by much. Employee travel has grown by about 3 percent in recent years, while the average travel budget has stayed the same.