Gift cards have successfully taken over the financial space, making transactions very seamless and convenient for users.
Some past two decades ago, gift cards were not widely accepted as they are today because people did not believe in their usefulness.
Gift cards gradually became very significant when people realised the hidden advantages they could get from using gift cards as a means of payment and the best gift item to offer friends and family.
Many business brands have created all kinds of gift cards to help their customers make seamless online and offline transactions in their stores, attract more sales revenue and build brand awareness; as such, there are wide varieties of gift cards in the world today.
Although there are many thousands of gift card brands in existence, there are more popular gift card brands which have dominated the gift card industry.
In this article, we will discuss Italy’s top five types of gift cards.
What Is A Gift Card?
A gift card is a voucher preloaded with a certain amount of money used for online and in-store transactions.
Gift cards are similar to bank debit/credit cards, but the difference here is that a bank does not issue that gift cards and are not linked to a bank account.
Gift cards can be purchased in retail stores, supermarkets, or brand online stores and websites.
They can either come as a physical card which can be purchased from physical stores, or a virtual card(ecodes) which can be purchased online.
Gift cards are further categorised as open-looped gift cards or closed-looped gift cards.
Open-looped gift cards are gift cards that can be used for transactions in any store that accepts such gift cards. Examples of this type of gift card are Visa gift cards and American Express gift cards.
Closed-looped gift cards are gift cards that can only be used in the gift card brand stores where such gift cards were issued. Examples of such gift cards are Amazon gift cards, Sephora gift cards, and Steam gift cards.
Types Of Gift Cards In Italy – Europe
Italy is one of the most advanced countries in Europe, and its sophistication cuts across the financial sector. This is why many Italians have massively adopted gift cards for store transactions and seasonal gifting items.
Different business brands are issuing many gift card brands in Italy, and we will look at the top five.
1. Amazon Gift Card:
Amazon is the biggest e-retail store in the world, where almost every product and service you can ever think of are sold.
Amazon store is scattered all over the world, including Italy, and the Amazon gift card in Italy is one of the most convenient ways to shop online and save more money. Shopping with an Amazon gift card gives users some discounts on items.
2. Steam Gift Card:
Steam is a platform which provides the latest in-game content, downloadable content and video games for users to purchase their choice of content.
Steam is a global platform with members from all over the world, and an Italian Steam gift card is used to redeem credit from the card into the Steam wallet.
This credit is used to purchase the items mentioned above at the Steam store.
Physical Steam gift cards in Italy come on in denominations of £20, £30, £50 and £100, while the digital Steam gift card in Italy are issued in denominations of £5, £10, £25, £50 and £100 steam gift card.
3. iTunes Gift Card:
Credit from the iTunes gift cards gives Apple users access to the iTunes store to stream and download content.
Italian iTunes gift card gives Italians access to the Italy Apple store.
When purchased, the card is scanned and sent to users via email, and the code gives them access to all content available in the Italy apple store.
4. eBay Gift Card:
eBay is a large retail store which offers a pool of choices for customers to choose from. The store operates all over the world, and people can shop for items like fashion items, electronics, toys, groceries and many more gift items.
With the Italy eBay gift card, you can shop for many categories of products at any time without the fear of the card getting expired.
5. Conad Gift Card:
Conad is a dominant large chain of grocery stores in Italy, just like Walmart in the United States.
The Conad gift card is used in all its stores across Italy without inconvenience.
The Conad gift cards have an expiry date of usually a maximum of one year from the date it was issued.
Additionally, the gift card makes shopping very simple and seamless. They can only be used in the Conad physical stores in Italy.
Where To Buy Gift Cards In Italy
Now that you know the top five gift cards in Italy, you may want to know how to quickly lay your hands on any of them. Depending on your disposition, there are many ways to buy these gift cards.
You must visit a physical location to get them if you need physical gift cards.
Italian gift cards are found in supermarkets, gas stations, and retail stores.
The types of gift cards found in these places are usually cash or open-looped gift cards.
Retail Gift Cards in Italy:
If you are looking to buy gift cards meant for specific retail stores, then you should check the official website of the stores.
Most platforms dedicate a part of their website to purchasing gift cards from interested buyers.
Sometimes, you need to fill in your location details, and you’ll get a location where the gift cards are sold. If you can also opt for the digital version of the gift card, it will be delivered to your email address.
Some gift cards can also be sold on some big third-party websites such as Amazon and other popular websites that sell gift cards.
In Italy, you can buy gift cards from various stores from these websites; MyGiftCard.it, Shop.wishcard.it, and many more.
More stores where you can buy gift cards in Italy include the following stores; La Feltrinelli, Conad Conforama, Chef Express, Panorama, Interspar, Carrefour, Tigros, Aspiag Despar, Select newsagents, Rex supermarkets, Esselunga, Simply, Pam, Supermedia, Il Gigante, Mondadori Store, Eurospar, Trony, Auchan, Iper.
Conclusion
There are still many gift cards used in Italy for different purposes, but the five mentioned in this article are the most popular among others.
The idea of gift cards has come to stay because it provides a more convenient way of carrying out in-store and online transactions.
Many big business brands, small retail stores, salons, restaurants and spas offer their customers excellent gift cards at excellent rates.
