---
title: "Template of the Week: The Plastic Gift Card that Keeps on Giving"
description: This shift toward thoughtfulness got Plastic Printers thinking. How and why has this change occurred? That’s the question we’ll be answering.
---

[Design Inspiration Blog | Plastic Printers ](https://www.plasticprinters.com/inspiration-blog)

# [Template of the Week: The Plastic Gift Card that Keeps on Giving](https://www.plasticprinters.com/gift-cards-keep-giving)

 Written by [Sarah K](https://www.plasticprinters.com/inspiration-blog/author/sarah-k) | May 14, 2013 3:08:00 PM

There was a time not so long ago that a gift card was viewed as a thoughtless gift. More recently, there has been a resurgence in both gift card purchases and uses. This shift toward thoughtfulness got [Plastic Printers](https://www.plasticprinters.com/aboutus.aspx) thinking. How and why has this change occurred? That’s the question we’ll be answering in this week’s template installment.

# **Gifting on a Budget**

Gift cards have made their presence known in the retail market to the tune of a [$100 billion business](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-power-of-plastic---gift-cards-to-surpass-100-billion-in-2011-sales-135915223.html). There are four main staples that have make this possible:

1. The BOGO deals-you buy a gift card for someone and get a pre-set one for yourself.
2. Making the cards [open-loop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_card) and reloadable-the fact that recipients can re-use them or use them anywhere credit cards are accepted brings a new level of flexibility and convenience.
3. The built-in spending control-these cards can double as a budgetary tool to help you live more affordably.
4. The exchange-the gift card’s answer to the re-gifting process. Recipients can [exchange the cards](https://www.cardpool.com/) they don’t want for the cards they do. Web-based businesses have been established just for this purpose.

Now, that we’ve covered the customer-friendly benefits, let’s look at the business boons.

## **The Ability to be in Two Places at Once**

Normally, business owners don’t have this ability, but gift cards have begun to change that.

- You can have physical cards for your brick and mortar locations and digital cards available on your website. That way; you can double your promotional efforts while offering customers a beneficial service.

- Couple your gift card sales with customer loyalty cards and incentives and claim your corner of a $23 billion dollar market.

- You can appeal to a wide range of customers at once; even if their on-the-go with [mobile certificates](http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/mobile_gift_cards-1271.php).

Between the customer benefits and generating leads for your business; gift cards are practical and practically recession-proof. The electronic version is not expected to overtake the classic plastic card, which is good news for [Plastic Printers](https://www.plasticprinters.com/getstarted.aspx) and for you.

You can test out your gift certificate market for free. We’ve made our “sealed with a stamp” template available through the website: [www.plasticprinters.com](https://www.plasticprinters.com/). Simply select your favorite variation from our [free template page](https://www.plasticprinters.com/free-templates/), download it, customize it, and hit print.

After your test campaign is done, [contact us](https://www.plasticprinters.com/contactus/) and we can help you design a complete promotional package for your business. Cards are all we do and we do them expertly well.

[View full post](https://www.plasticprinters.com/gift-cards-keep-giving)

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