Toggle is a gift card platform, built exclusively for hospitality and we have been offering our platform for free until June 2021 to support the industry and to help them come back stronger than ever.

Below is a graph of weekly Toggle gift card sales, year on year – from 2018 to 2021. These last 12 months have been pretty unusual to say the least, but it’s been super interesting to watch how the UK public’s spending habits change in relation to gifting. After an initial dip when Lockdown #1 was announced, the only way has been up.

We’ve seen so much creativity from our Togglers during these latest lockdowns, that it’s no surprise year-on-year sales are up so much. From burger chains selling £8k in their first 10 minutes of going live , to country pubs engaging their social media audience to sell £64k worth of gift cards in a single month , all whilst the doors have been closed!

Even without this innovation however the demand for standard gift cards seems to be increasing each year. Last year gift cards sales were 50% up on 2019, and venues were closed for most of the year, and 2021 seems to have started with a similar increase!

What we learnt over the last year:

Digital gift card sales represent 69% of total sales, with just 31% physical

• The average transaction value for each gift card sale in hospitality was £38.39
• Sales peaked on Christmas Eve at £82,000 – plus over £25,000 of sales on Christmas Day itself
• Women aged 21-30 were the demographic most likely to purchase gift cards
• Christmas Sales accounted for 29% of overall sales in 2020
• Retail products accounted for 44% of overall sales for those that offered products in their webshop (books, products, at home kits, t-shirts etc)

Our CEO Dan Brookman recently spoke on the rise in popularity for gifting in our sector: “Gifting in hospitality is still very early in its evolution. For operators to maximise the opportunity, it must become a revenue channel that’s part of the overall strategy. Gift cards provide an invaluable route to new customers and therefore brand engagement.”

Remember, pre-sold revenue is just the start for these operators. People will often continue spending beyond the value of their gift card, and they’re unlikely to visit a venue alone. Where someone has been bought a card as a gift, we know that 18% of recipients will become a regular customer, with their potential first visit affinity heightened by the fact that it has already been paid for.

Toggle & Airship are both still completely free of charge until June for those joining from the hospitality sector. So, if you or any operators you know, could use an extra source of revenue whilst shut – we’d love to help. We’ve had over 750 venues take advantage since Jan & it really is the more the merrier 🙌 https://www.usetoggle.com/come-back-strong

By Sam Brown, Chief Commercial Officer at Airship and Toggle