After Thanksgiving and Halloween comes the biggest shopping weekend for e-commerce (and retail stores) —Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM)—when millions of shoppers flood online looking for deals. This is a valuable opportunity for businesses to drive revenue. In fact, this BFCM season is expected to be larger than ever, with sales predicted to increase by almost 10% from 2023 – when customers in the US alone spent over $9 billion online over this 4 day period.
Typically, small and medium businesses have stayed away from this – leaving big brands to dominate BFCM sales. But there are now more ways than ever for businesses of any size to get involved, and get their customers to shop with them instead of soulless big brands.
Customers spent over $24 billion online in the US alone on Black Friday Cyber Monday 2024. Some of those dollars came from your existing and potential customers.
Standing out amid fierce competition can be tough, but pulling out all the stops and making it very easy, like offering gift cards can make a big difference to your sales. This article focuses on how and why you can and should offer gift cards this BFCM as well as on all holidays. Here’s what we cover:
Gift cards: a revenue booster for Black Friday Cyber Monday
Tips for promoting your gift cards during BFCM
Other tactics to maximize revenue during Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Physical or digital gift cards: Which is better for most businesses?
How to offer your own branded digital gift cards in 10 minutes
While many businesses focus on just discounting, some even giving up their entire profit margin to compete, a gift card-focused campaign sets you apart and prevents you from devaluing your products. Instead of heavily discounting products, you can offer discounts on gift cards – this gives customers what they want, which is a great deal, while you get them to pay you now for future purchases they may or may not have made. This all but ensures they (or whoever they give that gift card to) will make future purchases from your business.
Gift cards offer a unique advantage as they:
- Increase revenue
- Attract new customers
- Let customers lock in a great deal without having to pick a specific product or service
- Build brand loyalty
In this post, we’ll dive into how gift cards can help you maximize revenue during BFCM 2025 and we’ll introduce you to Cardivo – an easy-to-use tool that lets you offer your own gift cards in under 10 minutes, with no technical know-how (or credit card) needed.
Gift cards: a revenue booster for Black Friday Cyber Monday
While gift cards are effective year-round, they truly shine during specific holidays when customers are actively hunting for deals (and even getting some Christmas shopping done). A recent survey shows that 86% of shoppers purchased a gift during BFCM 2024, and an estimated 450,000 gift cards were purchased, a 29% increase from the previous year. Their flexibility and ease of use not only allow recipients to select items they truly want but also make gift cards a powerful tool for businesses to boost sales and increase revenue.
Immediate revenue generation
Gift cards allow businesses to generate revenue immediately as they require upfront payment. This can be crucial during the holiday rush. Plus, many recipients redeem cards over time, maintaining steady traffic even after the holiday season.
Attracting new customers
When someone gives a gift card to a friend or family member, the recipient is very likely to actually use it, creating new customers for your business. If this new customer likes your product or service, they’re likely to return and even recommend you to their friends and family. This builds long-term brand loyalty and increases word-of-mouth referrals from happy customers – the best way to grow a sustainable business.
Increasing average spending
According to First Data, consumers typically spend $59 more than the card’s original value, up $21 from last year. And if you offer a higher value product or service, customers will tend to spend even more and buy again in the future. This makes gift cards a cost-effective way to attract customers who typically spend way more than the gift card value.
Reward existing customers with exclusive discounts
Offering existing customers discounts on gift cards creates a sense of exclusivity, rewarding loyal customers and enticing them to return for future purchases. When customers feel valued, they’re more likely to choose your brand over competitors. This encourages customers to buy now with the promise of future savings—strengthening loyalty and paving the way for repeat sales. Using your gift card software, you can offer a discount code only to your existing customers, that they can redeem when buying a gift card. To create a sense of urgency, you can even add a maximum number of redemptions and let customers know that it’s first come first serve.
Get paid sooner for future purchases
Discounted gift cards provide immediate cash flow by bringing in revenue now for purchases customers will make later. This influx of funds during the holiday rush helps cover operational expenses and keeps cash flow steady. For customers who already enjoy your products, a gift card offers an attractive way to “lock in” a future purchase at a lower price, driving immediate sales while also likely increasing spending when they redeem the gift card.
Tips for promoting your gift cards during BFCM
Ensure your offers stand out to maximize your gift card sales. Here are four proven tactics and channels:
- Website banners and pop-ups
Use eye-catching banners and pop-ups on your homepage to ensure every visitor notices your BFCM gift card offer. Consider using bold colors and a clear call-to-action like “Shop Now” to draw attention. - Email campaigns
Send targeted emails that highlight your gift card discount, especially to loyal customers who are likely to act on the offer. Personalize these emails with their names and past purchase history to increase engagement. - Social
Share engaging visuals and videos showcasing the convenience and savings of discounted BFCM gift cards. Consider running a social media contest where customers can win gift cards, further boosting visibility, or engage relevant (and authentic) influencers to help drive awareness of your brand and your BFCM deals. - Create urgency
Emphasize that the BFCM discount is time-limited to encourage quick purchases. Phrases like “Limited time only!” or “While supplies last!” can create a sense of urgency that motivates shoppers to buy immediately.
Other tactics to maximize revenue during Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Offer small gifts with a minimum spend
Offer free gifts for customers who meet a minimum purchase threshold. It doesn’t need to be expensive—it could be a branded item or a smaller product sample that introduces shoppers to a new product or service. Free gifts can enhance perceived value and encourage hesitant customers to make a purchase, as they’ll feel they’re getting an exclusive deal.
Launch exclusive product bundles
Bundle popular products into limited-time offers that can only be bought at this BFCM. This adds value for customers and promotes higher spending, as bundled items typically come with a slight discount. Tailor bundles around themes, like “Holiday Essentials” or “Winter Wellness,” to help customers see the practical benefit and make faster purchase decisions. For services, you can bundle multiple separate but related ones into one bundle – typically with a discount.
Offer payment plans
Offering payment plans can help customers make larger purchases more manageable and typically leads to customers spending more. Flexible options like our sister tool Paythen let you offer installment plans in minutes, and even let customers redeem gift cards on payment plans. This approach can be especially helpful for BFCM and any holidays, where you may want to maximize sales while keeping customers satisfied with affordable options.
Offer free shipping
Offering free shipping is a proven motivator for online shoppers, especially with a reasonable minimum spending threshold. For example, “Free shipping on orders over $75” encourages customers to increase their cart total to avoid the extra cost. This tactic works well during BFCM when shoppers are comparing deals and looking for the best value.
Promote sales through influencers
Collaborating with authentic influencers is a great way to spotlight your BFCM deals in a way that resonates with their followers. According to Adobe, influencers are 9 times more effective in converting shoppers. Influencers add a personal touch, boosting your brand’s credibility and reach. This added visibility can bring new customers to your store who may not have discovered you otherwise, making it an effective strategy during the holiday season.
Double loyalty points for purchases
If your business has a loyalty program, consider offering double or even triple points on BFCM purchases. This can incentivize loyal customers to choose you over competitors and add long-term value to their purchase, as they’ll have more points to redeem later. Doubling loyalty points also creates excitement and builds loyalty beyond the holiday season.
Physical or digital gift cards: Which is better for most businesses?
Physical gift cards have typically been the more common option of the two since digital gift cards are relatively new – but the trend is changing fast. The first quarter of 2024 saw digital gift cards capturing over 50% of the market share, a 17% growth from the previous year. Digital gift cards are easier to buy, send, redeem and track, so everyone involved tends to prefer them.
1. Digital gift cards cost you less
Digital gift cards have almost zero production costs since they don’t require physical materials or shipping fees. In contrast, offering physical cards can be expensive, as you have to pay for them and display them in your shop. You’ll also have to order enough in advance, and they can break, get lost, or be stolen, increasing the complexity and costs further.
2. Digital gift cards are instant
Digital cards can be created within minutes and sent immediately via email to customers anywhere. Whether they’re friends or family living on opposite sides of the world, people can buy digital gift cards for the recipient’s favorite local or online business instantly. That’s impossible with physical gift cards, as they typically need to be bought in person or ordered online in advance to be delivered via snail mail.
3. Digital gift cards are more secure
Digital gift cards are more secure than physical cards because they store data in secure systems. For example, If a recipient reports unauthorized access, you can instantly freeze the card and issue a new one if needed. If a physical card is lost or stolen, anyone can use it and it’s harder to verify and track the original recipient.
4. Digital gift cards give you real-time analytics
Digital gift cards allow businesses to monitor sales, usage, and customer data in real time. Physical cards often require costly scanning systems and manual input, which can be inefficient and error-prone. Modern gift card software also makes it easy to track gift card redemptions, balances, and even revenue generated from gift cards.
5. Digital gift cards are better for the environment
Digital gift cards have a much lower environmental impact compared to physical cards, which need to be printed, shipped, and often come with plastic packaging. This digital option aligns with the values of today’s consumers who are more aware of what’s good for the climate.
Recent data supports this shift. From Black Friday to Christmas Eve 2022, the value of physical gift card sales dropped 22% since 2019, while digital gift card sales rose by 77%. Digital is the preferred option, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down.
How to offer your own branded digital gift cards in 10 minutes
Cardivo is an easy-to-use gift card software that allows you to offer beautiful digital gift cards and automate the entire process from the sale to redemption, emails and more. The setup is hassle-free and there are no fixed fees – we only take a small percentage of each sale. We make money only if you do. You also have the option to pass on Cardivo’s fees to gift card buyers, making Cardivo completely cost-free and risk-free for you.
Step by step setup guide
Here’s a quick guide to setting up your gift card program with Cardivo within minutes, with no technical know-how needed. If you have any questions, just reach out via the chat icon.
1. Sign up for a free Cardivo account
Visit cardivo.com or click here to sign up with your name and email—no credit card required.
2. Link your stripe account or create a new one
You’ll be asked to link your Stripe account to Cardivo or create a new account if you don’t have one. Stripe will ask you for some essential information about your business (varies depending on country and business type), but the process is straightforward and shouldn’t take more than two minutes. Stripe is one of the world’s leading payment processors, handling all Cardivo transactions securely. Learn more about Stripe here.
3. Select your gift card page link
Select a custom URL where customers can buy your gift cards. We suggest using your business name with hyphens (e.g., acme-corp). It should look similar to this: https://cardivo.com/giftcards/acme-corp. You can share this link with your customers and they can buy your gift cards from any device, anywhere.
4. Customize your gift card settings
You can customize your gift card, including your logo, currency, add custom images, and more. Cardivo offers various options to tailor your gift cards to reflect your brand and your business.
5. Optionally, create discount codes
To maximize sales over Black Friday Cyber Monday, consider creating one or more discount codes via your Cardivo dashboard. This will entice your existing customers, and new customers to buy a gift card and get a great deal. You can create tailored discount codes for different audiences, set redemption limits, minimum spends, expiry dates and more.
5. Share your gift card link everywhere
Once your setup is complete, Cardivo generates a link to your gift card page. Here’s an example of how it will look. Share this link on your website, social posts, bio, WhatsApp, or any platform. Customers can purchase gift cards instantly using their credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay on any device.
Need a hand? Ask us anything via the chat icon or email [email protected]. We’d love to help.
Frequently asked questions
How do you maximize sales on Black Friday?
Utilize promotions like discounted gift cards, create urgency with limited-time offers, and leverage email and social media marketing to engage customers.
What are the trends for Black Friday in 2025?
Expect an increase in online shopping, a focus on sustainable products, and the continued popularity of digital gift cards as consumers seek convenience. As Black Friday Cyber Monday continue to explode in popularity, customers expect better deals and more flexibility. Offering custom-branded digital gift cards lets you give customers a good or great deal without forcing them to buy a specific product or service immediately. They buy a gift card at a discount and can gift that to someone else, or use it for a future purchase for themself.
What are the benefits of Black Friday for retailers and service businesses? Is it relevant to me?
Black Friday helps any business boost sales, attract new customers, clear inventory, and enhance brand visibility during this peak shopping season. The big difference is over this period, customers and potential customers are actively looking to spend money and get good deals. This means they are primed to buy – and you can capture a small slice of this spending from existing and new customers, boosting your revenue, regardless of the type and size of business you operate.
Cardivo is an easy to use e-gift card platform that lets you offer your own branded digital gift cards to increase revenue and sales. It takes under 5 minutes to get started. Let your existing customers help grow your business by buying gift cards for their friends and family and bringing you new customers. Cardivo handles everything including the gift card purchase, delivery and personalized self-serve pages so you can offer a top-notch gift card experience without extra admin.
Cardivo requires Stripe to work and uses Stripe to process payments. When you sign up, we'll ask you to connect (or create) a Stripe.com account.
Stripe is the world’s leading payment processing provider — they handle the underlying payment infrastructure to ensure your customers’ payment information is secure. Millions of businesses across the world use Stripe as their payment processor. Cardivo works with, and requires, Stripe. When you sign up to Cardivo, you can connect your existing Stripe account or create a new one in seconds.
Cardivo is available anywhere Stripe is. If you can sign up for a Stripe account, you can use Cardivo. Stripe is currently available to businesses based in over 44 countries (please see notes below for 'preview' countries), and almost anyone anywhere through Stripe Atlas. These are the countries supported by Stripe (and Cardivo) at the moment:
You can accept payments in most currencies Stripe supports (over 130) – at the moment you can't accept zero decimal currencies with Cardivo. There are some exceptions and limitations based on your account's currency. View the full list and more info here.
Are you in a country where Stripe is in preview?
Countries that show "Preview" above might have limited functionality as Stripe is just getting started there.You can read more about each supported country, including Stripe fees and sign up for a Stripe account here. Different preview countries might have different limitations.
For some countries, because of legal and Stripe restrictions, Cardivo fees cannot be automatically deducted from each transaction like they usually are. In these cases, you can still use Cardivo as normal – but your billing will be done monthly at the end of each month via a credit or debit card.
For some preview countries (like Indonesia and the Philippines), Cardivo might only work if you have set up a Stripe account using Stripe Atlas but not if your account is based in your home country and currency. This is because of legal limitations in these countries that don't allow external platforms based in other countries to connect to locally-based accounts.
Is your Stripe account based in Japan?
Japan based accounts can use and accept payments with Cardivo in all other currencies except JPY at the moment. Cardivo does not support zero decimal currencies at the moment but we expect to add support in the future.
Is your Stripe account based in India?Â
Accounts based in India can currently only accept payments in INR using Cardivo – we will be adding support to accept other currencies too, but at the moment, only INR payments can be accepted. If you're using Stripe Atlas with a USD account, then this does not apply.
Is your Stripe account based in Indonesia or the Philippines?Â
Unfortunately at the moment, due to legal and/or Stripe limitations, Stripe accounts based in Indonesia or the Philippines cannot connect to platforms like Cardivo that are based in other countries, like Cardivo is. We hope to support both countries in the future if and when this changes. You can use Cardivo if you have a US based Stripe account created via Stripe Atlas though.
If Stripe is not available in your country, we recommend looking into Stripe Atlas. It's a great way to form a US company remotely and get all the benefits that come with it.
Yes you can.
You can add your own custom background image, your logo and your brand color and other company info. This is then reflected across all customer-facing pages, on your gift card sales page, emails and more!
Yes, Cardivo is completely risk-free, with no hidden costs. You only pay a small percentage when you make a sale, meaning there are no upfront charges, other ongoing fixed or hidden charges, or lock-in contracts. There is no credit card required, ever.
You can even pass on our and any Stripe payment processing fees to gift card buyers if you want to make gift cards completely cost-free to your business.
Boost sales and customer loyalty with digital gift cards this BFCM
Digital gift cards are becoming the new standard and a powerful tool to increase revenue, attract new customers, and build long-term loyalty this BFCM. They bring immediate advantages—secure transactions, real-time tracking, and eco-friendliness—setting your business apart by meeting customer demand for both convenience and sustainability.
Launch your digital gift card program with Cardivo and maximize these benefits. Cardivo allows you to easily create, customize, and manage digital gift cards for a seamless experience for both you and your customers. Not sure? Try Cardivo today and see the impact firsthand.
Let this BFCM 2025 be your most profitable yet by offering existing and potential customers the convenience of easy digital gift cards!
