Economy

The Gift Card Economy: Exploring the Rise of Gift Cards

Published

4 years ago

12/09/2022

The greatest way of expressing love and gratitude is through gifting. Since the history of mankind, the act of gifting is an integral part of every society in the world.

In traditional society, people send tangible items as gifts but the transition into a digital society has revealed gift cards to be the currency of the act of gifting.

Some time ago before gift card adoption evolved to a substantial extent like it is today, it was considered nothing more than a worthless and inefficient plastic card.

Today in Nigeria, gift cards have become the perfect gift choice for gift givers and recipients as well because of their convenience, portability and value. The transition to a more digital society has also reshaped people’s shopping behaviour, stirring a massive adaptation to online shopping, hence, giving more credence and value to gift cards.

With the use of gift cards, gift givers need not worry about the type of gifts to buy. They just simply purchase the gift cards from stores and send them to the recipient, who will redeem them for any type of gifts suitable to them or find means of how to sell gift cards.

Gift cards serve as a surprise gift for a retiree, employee, friend, lover and many more and it is very important to choose gift cards with the highest resale value when gifting them. This will enable them to profit from the high gift card rates if they don’t want to buy gifts from the store and decide to sell them.

Some recipients can even sell gift cards for cash if they don’t need the gift item.

With the massive acceptance of gift cards over the years, gift card trading will continue to grow with the economy as it gives a more personalized, digital and convenient gifting experience.

The Magical Transformation: From Inefficiency To Efficiency

The innovation of the first gift card in 1994 and other brands which later joined the gift card market in the early 2000s, was ensued by some bottlenecks which projected the invention as inefficient.

Apart from the major problem of gift card fraud which took a toll on the industry due to the feeble nature of the market, many customers did not utilise the gift cards they purchased.

Many people challenged the efficiency of gift cards when the New York Times in 2007 asserted that about $8 billion out of the $80 billion spent on gift cards in 2006 was not redeemed. In fact, due to the rate of unredeemed gift cards, some economists asserted that gift cards were poor gifts which were merely gifts bought for the issuing companies who earn “breakage” (unclaimed gift cards reclaimed by the issuing company) from them.

However, in recent times, due to the technological and e-commerce revolutions, the archaic perspective about gift cards had become history and gift cards have become the most desirable gifting experience.

The Trend Gap Of The Gift Card Economy: An Exchange of True Value

When we consider the constant e-commerce and digital revolutions we live, one may understand that people are open to giving and receiving gift cards for many reasons like;

1. Flexible Spending And Unlimited Choice Of Gift Cards:

Even though there are some restrictions on the closed-loop gift cards which would force users to only spend the gift card on that same brand, 78.7% of people still use gift cards from strange brands and about 87.7% tend to become customers afterwards. However, an open-loop gift can be redeemed at any store that accepts debit and credit cards. This type of gift card is not restrictive to brand stores, hence, the versatility of gift cards makes it a perfect gift choice.

2. Gift Card Purchases Are Now Planned:

Unlike the old popular belief that gift cards gifting is not properly planned which makes it a poor gift, a gift card report by Incomm stated that 86% of gift cards purchased in the US are planned and 55.8% of recipients received the gift cards for their brand of choice.

3. Number Of Unused Gift Cards Drop Annually:

In the early days of gift card usage, one of the problems was the big fraction of unredeemed gift cards. However, according to Bankrate, the number of unused gift cards reduced by 25% annually.

4. Gift Card Purchases For Personal Use:

Individuals tend to buy more gift cards for themselves than they did in the past ten years. According to research by Black Hawk Network, 33% of the gift cards purchased in 2019 were for the owners.

Some of the reasons individuals purchase personal gift cards are;

Financial budgeting and diplomacy
The convenience of gift card transaction
The safety of gift cards
An alternative method of payment

Conclusion

The gift economy is still a fast-growing one which has been predicted to reach about $440 billion by 2027. With the desire for convenience, value and safety in gifting and transactions, gift cards are the ideal gifting strategy and also, a very good way to make in-store and online transactions with ease.

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Economy

NRS Launches Unified Tax ID System

Published

2 hours ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has unveiled a unified Taxpayer Identification (Tax ID) system for all taxable persons across the country as part of efforts to strengthen tax administration and improve transparency.

The agency announced the development in a public notice issued jointly with the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) on Monday.

According to the notice, the initiative is backed by Sections 6, 7, and 8 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, which mandate every taxable person in Nigeria to obtain a Tax ID, in a wider move to expand the country’s tax base.

The NRS said the new framework is designed to create a centralised and harmonised taxpayer database that would enhance interactions between taxpayers and revenue authorities at both federal and sub-national levels.

“The Tax ID will serve as a single, unified identity for all taxpayers, enabling seamless interaction with tax authorities at both federal and sub-national levels. It is designed to consolidate taxpayer records, eliminate duplication, and ensure more efficient management of tax-related information,” the agency stated.

The revenue agency explained that the new system would simplify tax compliance procedures, including taxpayer registration, filing of returns, and payment processes.

According to the NRS, the framework is also expected to improve accountability and reduce leakages in tax collection by creating better visibility and tracking of taxpayer information nationwide.

“The initiative will simplify tax compliance processes, including registration, tax filing, and payment procedures. The system will improve transparency by enabling better visibility and tracking of taxpayer records while reducing leakages and improving accountability in tax collection. The framework will also harmonise taxpayer information across all levels of government,” the notice added.

The agency further disclosed that the new Tax ID system would replace the existing Tax Identification Number (TIN) Validation API currently used by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), financial institutions, and other organisations for taxpayer verification.

Economy

OTC Securities Exchange Falls 1.31% as Key Stocks Decline

Published

4 hours ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Three bellwether stocks weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.31 per cent on Monday, May 18.

This brought the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 54.71 points to 4,133.70 points from 4,188.41 points, and shrank the market capitalisation by N32.73 billion to N2.473 trillion from N2.506 trillion.

Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc contracted by N12.45 to sell at N146.55 per share compared with last Friday’s closing price of N159.00 per share, Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) Plc declined by N2.34 to N70.00 per unit from N72.34 per unit, and NASD Plc lost 50 Kobo to trade at N34.50 per share versus N35.00 per share.

The trio overpowered the N5.56 gained Newrest Asl Plc. This stock ended the trading session at N61.15 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N55.59 per unit.

During the trading day, the volume of securities traded by investors slid by 56.1 per cent to 514,142 units from 1.2 million units, and the value of securities dropped 29.8 per cent to close at N17.4 million versus N29.8 million, while the number of deals jumped 12.5 per cent to 27 deals from 24 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 60.8 million units exchanged for N4.1 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.9 million units traded for N1.9 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units transacted for N1.2 billion.

Economy

FX Pressure Pushes Naira Lower to N1,373/$1 at Official Market

Published

5 hours ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was a horrible day for the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, May 15, as its value further weakened against the United States Dollar.

In the black market window, the Naira lost N5 against the Dollar yesterday to sell for N1,390/$1 compared with the previous value of N1,385/$1, but at the GTBank forex counter, it remained unchanged at N1,383/$1.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), the Nigerian currency depreciated against the greenback by N2.66 or 0.19 per cent to sell for N1,373.70/$1 compared to last Friday’s rate of N1,371.04/$1.

Equally, it fell against the Pound Sterling in the same market segment by N9.05 to trade at N1,839.66/£1 versus N1,830.61/£1, and lost N5.42 on the Euro to close at N1,600.49/€1 versus N1,595.07/€1.

The performance of the local currency during the session indicates early worries despite all signals pointing to stability, amid improved Dollar sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with steady, higher oil receipts to bolster the nation’s reserves.

Activity at the market showed that turnover rose 57.3 per cent to $76.29 million on Monday from $48.49 million posted on Friday.

Over the weekend, S&P raised Nigeria’s credit ratings for the first time since 2012 and highlighted improved FX market liquidity and $10 billion turnover recorded in April 2026 as one of the major gains of the CBN-led FX reforms.

The agency said the liberalisation of the exchange rate has bolstered access to foreign currency and enabled a market-driven exchange-rate environment while supporting investor and consumer confidence.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was bullish on Monday as investors monitored developments in the Iran conflict and weighed the impact of surging oil prices on inflation and US interest-rate expectations.

Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.7 per cent to trade at $2,134.10, Cardano (ADA) rose by 0.6 per cent to $0.2515, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.3 per cent to $85.11, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 0.2 per cent to $643.29, TRON (TRX) increased by 0.03 per cent to $0.3565, and Bitcoin (BTC) advanced by 0.02 per cent to $76,912.12.

On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 1.5 per cent to $0.1044, and Ripple (XRP) decreased by 0.5 per cent to $1.38, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.