What Are Gift Cards?

Shopify gift cards are store credit vouchers that customers can purchase and send to others, or receive as a reward. They function as a payment method at checkout: the recipient enters a unique code and the value is deducted from their order total.

Unlike discount codes, gift cards carry a specific monetary value that depletes with each use. A customer with a £50 gift card can spend it across multiple orders until the balance reaches zero. Any unused balance stays on the card.

Gift cards are available on all Shopify plans. They are built natively into the platform, so you do not need a third-party app for basic functionality. More advanced features, such as physical card printing or branded card designs, may require additional apps.

Why Merchants Love Gift Cards

•Cash received upfront, fulfilment deferred until redemption
•Around 20-30% of gift card value is typically never redeemed (breakage)
•Recipients often spend more than the card value, increasing average order value
•Strong gifting season performance at Christmas, birthdays, and Mother's Day

Enabling Gift Cards

Gift cards are a product type in Shopify, not a setting. You enable them by creating your first gift card product. There is no toggle to flick in Settings.

1
Go to Products in your Shopify admin
Click the Products section in the left-hand navigation.
2
Click Gift Cards
You will see a Gift Cards tab alongside the main products list.
3
Click Add gift card product
This opens the gift card product editor. From here you configure denominations, descriptions, and images.

Important Note on VAT

Gift cards are not subject to VAT at the point of sale in the UK. VAT is collected when the card is redeemed on a taxable purchase. Shopify handles this automatically, but check with your accountant if you have unusual tax situations.

Creating Gift Card Products

Each gift card product can have multiple denominations set as variants. A single product called "Gift Card" with variants of £10, £25, £50, and £100 is the standard approach.

Title and Description

Keep the title simple: "Gift Card" or "[Brand Name] Gift Card". In the description, explain where it can be spent, whether it expires, and how to redeem it. UK consumer law requires you to display expiry terms clearly.

Denominations as Variants

Add each value as a variant. The variant price sets the gift card value. A variant priced at £50 creates a £50 gift card. You can have as many denominations as needed.

Expiry Dates

You can set gift cards to never expire or expire after a fixed period. UK regulations do not mandate a minimum validity period for commercial gift cards, but the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires any conditions to be clearly stated. Most UK merchants opt for no expiry or a 2-5 year window.

Customising Gift Card Emails

When a digital gift card is purchased, Shopify sends an email to the recipient with the unique code. This email is one of the most important brand touchpoints for gift cards, yet many merchants leave it as the default.

To customise the gift card email, go to Settings, then Notifications, and find the "Gift card created" template. You can edit the HTML directly or use the visual editor.

What to Include

•Your logo and brand colours
•The gift card value prominently displayed
•A personalised message field if you have enabled one
•Clear instructions on how to redeem the code
•Terms and conditions, including any expiry date
•A direct link to your store

Digital vs Physical Gift Cards

Shopify natively supports digital gift cards only. The code is emailed to the recipient, and that is where the native feature ends. Physical gift cards, the kind you print and put in an envelope or display in-store, require either a third-party printing service or a specialised app.

Digital Gift Cards

Best for most online merchants. Zero cost to fulfil, instant delivery, and easy to manage. Allow customers to send directly to a recipient's email address or receive the code themselves.

Physical Gift Cards

Suited to brands with a strong physical retail presence or high-end gifting occasions. Apps such as Govalo allow you to design and sell printed cards that are fulfilled as a physical product, with the unique code printed or activated separately.

Tracking Gift Card Usage

Shopify provides basic gift card reporting under Analytics. You can see the total value issued, redeemed, and outstanding. For deeper analysis, you will need to export data or use a reporting app.

To view individual gift cards, go to Products, then Gift Cards. You can search by code, see the balance remaining, view the purchase and redemption history, and manually adjust balances if needed. This is useful for handling customer service queries.

Accounting Tip

Gift card sales create a liability on your balance sheet until redeemed, not revenue. Ensure your accounting software is configured to handle this correctly. When connecting Shopify to Xero or QuickBooks, check how gift card transactions are being recorded.

Common Issues

Gift card email not received

The most common cause is the email landing in a spam folder or the recipient address being entered incorrectly at purchase.

Fix: Go to the order in your admin, find the gift card, and resend the email from the gift card detail page. Consider improving email deliverability by setting up a custom sender domain.

Code not applying at checkout

Gift cards are entered in a different field to discount codes at checkout. Some customers confuse the two.

Fix: Add clear instructions to your gift card product page and in the confirmation email explaining that the code goes in the "Gift card" field, not the discount code field.

Gift cards not showing in checkout

If customers cannot apply a gift card code, it may be a theme issue with checkout scripts or an incompatible third-party checkout app.

Fix: Test with a fresh gift card on a test order. Check your checkout customisations for any scripts that modify the payment section.

How to Set Up Gift Cards on Shopify