Have you ever gone shopping and came back to return the item and they tell you we will be giving you back your money on a gift card? To us millennials, this doesn’t sound too bad for we were born into the age of gift cards but for those who use to always get a refund back on their credit card, this can be frustrating.

Gift certificates have been around since the 1970’s but Gift Cards are a relatively new thing, Neiman Marcus was the first store to start with gift cards but they did not display them and they did not understand the potential.  When the colored printer came out gift certificates became a favorite to fraudsters for they were able to make colored copies, as said by Frank W. Abagnale who wrote the book Art Of The Steal.

Blockbuster is the first place to start displaying gift cards and this is really when the gift card market started taking off, this was in 1995. The next time you receive a gift card you can thank blockbuster :). Blockbuster was excited to start displaying them for their gift certificates were so popular.

Starbucks was the next major innovator in 2001 with gift cards that worked more than once. Today 1 out of 7 purchases made at Starbucks is with a gift card. That brings us to today where we have electronic gift cards and all sorts of cute design gift cards as well.

Looking to buy someone a gift? Get a gift card that will allow them to purchase something they would actually want. According to Tamara E. Holmes from creditcards.com says, gift cards are the number 1 requested gift during the holidays season she also says 93% of all consumers will buy or receive a gift card this year, in just over 20 years gift cards have risen to the top of the gifting marketplace.

Why would stores love gift cards? Most people that receive a gift card as a gift will end up spending a lot more in the store than the gift card is worth says Renae Balk. Another reason why stores would love gift cards is that so many people forget to use them and for the store that would be a win-win. According to the Kari Paul from the Market Watch, she says 1 Billion in gift cards go unspent a year.

According to Carla Carlin from Mpell Promotions -the gift card market is growing rapidly making it a 180 Billion Dollar market, the gift card market also continues to grow at a rate of 5-6%, while the digital gift card market is growing at a rate of nearly 200% this is paper cards that are sent straight to your email for online or in-store use.

The busiest time of the year for the gift card market is the holiday season. Looking to buy gifts for friends and family? Go check out CardCash.com for the best deals. If you get a gift card you do not want go ahead and sell it to CardCash for cash.