When it comes to reporting on gift card sales, most of the industry is still working with outdated categories. B2B. B2C. In-store. Online. These broad buckets might have worked when gift cards were purely for gifting, but they’re hiding one of the biggest growth trends in plain sight: self-use.
Our data shows a 340% increase in cashback-related gift card transactions between 2023 and 2024. Yet most of these are still recorded under traditional reporting categories — meaning valuable behavioural insights are being missed entirely. For loyalty platforms, cashback providers, and fintechs, that’s a lost opportunity.
Why self-use isn’t showing up in your reports
In most B2C reporting, a gift card bought for self-use gets logged as a standard consumer sale. In B2B, self-use purchases through employee benefits, credit card incentives, or cashback rewards are often bucketed under generic incentive categories.
The problem?
- The intent is different - self-use is an active, deliberate decision to optimise spending, not a passive reward.
- The behaviour is repeatable - self-use customers often buy more often and spend more.
- The value is measurable - but only if you know to track it.
Why buyers should care
- Better targeting
Identifying self-use behaviour lets you tailor offers, channels, and messaging for these high-intent users.
- Increased engagement
Self-use customers are already motivated to maximise value - the right incentives can turn them into your most loyal users.
- Smarter product development
Insights from self-use data can guide new features, rewards, and partnerships that match how people are actually spending.
How to uncover the hidden data
- Tag self-use transactions separately
Build categorisation rules that flag purchases made for personal use, whether through your own platform or partner integrations.
- Track frequency and spend
Look for repeat purchase patterns - they’re often much higher for self-use than for traditional gift card redemptions.
- Compare redemption speed
Self-use gift cards, especially digital ones, are redeemed faster. That’s a key behavioural signal to optimise around.
Real-world potential
- Cashback providers: Identify and reward users who regularly buy discounted cards for personal spend.
- Loyalty programmes: Use self-use data to create “everyday value” campaigns rather than one-off seasonal pushes.
- Fintechs: Build features that make self-use gift cards the default way for users to turn rewards into spending power.
The missed revenue risk
By not tracking self-use properly, you’re likely underestimating both the size and the profitability of your gift card activity. Worse still, you could be missing the chance to develop products and campaigns that capture more of this behaviour.
The takeaway:
Self-use is one of the fastest-growing gift card behaviours, but unless you’re actively tracking it, you’re missing the data that could drive your next wave of growth. The sooner you start uncovering it, the sooner you can act on it.
Download the full whitepaper — From Gifting to Gaining: How Gift Cards Have Become a Consumer Power Move — to explore the data and learn how to turn self-use insights into action.
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