Dublin, Feb. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The “Latin America Gift Card Business and Investment Opportunities Databook – 90+ KPIs on Gift Card Market Size, Retail & Corporate Spend, Competitive Landscape, and Consumer Demographics – Q1 2026 Update” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.
The Gift Card market in Latin America is expected to grow by 10.6% on annual basis to reach US$17.5 billion in 2026.
The gift card market in the region has experienced robust growth during 2021-2025, achieving a CAGR of 11.3%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 10% from 2026-2030. By the end of 2030, the Gift Card sector is projected to expand from its 2025 value of USD 15.8 billion to approximately USD 25.7 billion.
Expect sharper two-tier competition. In Brazil, distributor-led networks will defend shelf and activation standards; in Mexico, platforms and large merchants will keep pulling gift cards into app-based flows. Corporate incentives become a battleground. Benefits players will compete on compliance, wallet/app controls, and merchant coverage; distributors will counter by widening catalogs and improving digital issuance/controls.
Current State of the Market
- Compete on distribution control, not just issuance. In Brazil, specialist distributors (e.g., Blackhawk Network Brasil / BHN) sit behind large portions of third-party gift-card racks and digital catalogs, underscoring the importance of retailer access, activation operations, and fraud controls as core competitive levers.
- Split market structure by country. Mexico skews toward large retailers and platforms bundling gift cards into broader commerce/payment journeys, while Brazil shows deeper specialist intermediation (distributor-led assortment and in-store execution).
Key Players and New Entrants
- Distribution specialists: BHN (Blackhawk Network) expands “gift-card mall” style distribution that brands can plug into, reinforcing a platform layer between merchants and issuers.
- Employer benefits and incentives: Pluxee and Edenred push gift cards as an employee reward and incentive instrument across key LATAM markets, intensifying competition for corporate budgets (HR, sales incentives, channel rewards).
- Commerce apps and wallets: super-app and wallet ecosystems increasingly treat gift cards as a native category alongside other payment actions (top-ups, vouchers, subscriptions), shaping new routes to market beyond retail racks.
Recent Launches, Mergers, and Acquisitions
- Partnership-led expansion dominates. BHN’s Google Play “gift card mall” launch (Oct 2025) signals how large digital ecosystems are becoming high-visibility distribution surfaces for gift cards, with spillover relevance for LATAM, where Google Play usage is material.
- Cross-platform distribution scale-ups. BHN’s expanded partnership with Recharge (Jul 2025) shows continued consolidation around global digital gift-card access points rather than country-by-country bespoke builds.
Move gift cards from “retail product” to an in-app wallet feature
- Turn gift cards into a native wallet use-case rather than a standalone SKU. In Mexico, Spin by OXXO positions gift cards as items users buy in the app alongside other wallet actions (select the brand, choose the amount, pay, then activate the gift card). Extend “instant gifting” into on-demand platforms. In Colombia, Rappi lists gift-card items for delivery/fulfilment inside its commerce flow, reflecting how gifting is being operationalised through last-mile apps rather than separate gift-card storefronts.
- Wallet adoption and habit-building: super-apps and wallets use gift cards to add a repeatable purchase category that looks like top-ups or vouchers, simple, frequent, and compatible with stored balance behaviour (not just seasonal gifting).
- Intensifies: more wallets/apps will curate gift-card catalogs as a retention lever, and brands will treat wallets as a primary distribution channel (especially for digital-first categories like streaming, rides, and marketplaces).
Use mass retail and convenience networks to scale “cash-to-gift-card” distribution
- Scale gift cards through high-footfall cash networks to reach consumers who still transact heavily in cash or prefer physical purchase points.
- In Brazil, Atacadao expanded in-store gift-card merchandising through a partnership with BHN Brasil, placing third-party brand cards (e.g., Spotify, Google, Uber, Apple, gaming brands) in physical displays across its stores.
- In Mexico, OXXO maintains a broad in-store gift-card assortment (e.g., Amazon, Uber/Uber Eats, Spotify), reinforcing convenience retail as a primary rack-based distribution channel.
- Omnichannel retail execution: retailers want incremental basket and footfall; brands want distribution that doesn’t depend on the recipient having a bank card. Convenience and cash-friendly formats reduce purchase friction.
- Intensifies: expect more grocers/wholesalers and convenience chains to allocate shelf space to gift cards as a “category rack,” while distributors push multi-brand formats and better in-store activation/anti-tamper practices.
Reposition gift cards as a standard corporate incentive instrument
- Shift employee recognition and channel incentives toward configurable gift cards (often multi-brand or catalog-based), replacing ad-hoc physical gifts and simplifying administration. In Brazil, BHN has been explicit about targeting the corporate use-case framing gift cards as a default tool for companies (incentives, engagement, recognition).
- In Mexico, Edenred promotes gift cards as an employer incentive mechanism, positioning them within HR and rewards programs. In Chile, benefits and rewards providers increasingly package gift cards for corporate motivation/retention programs (e.g., Pluxee Chile content and offers tied to employee reward moments).
- Operational efficiency and employee choice: procurement wants a standardized, auditable format; employees prefer selection flexibility compared with single-item gifts; issuers/distributors want repeat B2B volumes beyond holidays.
- Intensifies: corporate demand will push more multi-brand catalogs, tighter issuance controls, and integrations into HR/expense and rewards platforms; distributors will compete on fulfillment speed, fraud controls, and brand breadth.
Concentrate growth in “digital content and platform ecosystems” gift cards
- Gift cards increasingly map to digital services (streaming, app stores, rides, gaming) and platform ecosystems, not just traditional retail. In Brazil, Atacadao’s BHN-led assortment highlights how Spotify / app stores / ride-hailing / gaming have become core gift-card shelf anchors alongside multi-brand options.
- In Mexico, Google Play runs retailer-led gift card promotions tied to game/app spend, reinforcing the role of gift cards as acquisition and monetization tools for digital ecosystems. In Mexico, OXXO’s catalog similarly reflects the dominance of digital-first brands and services among top gift-card SKUs.
- Platform economics: digital ecosystems use gift cards to onboard users, drive wallet balance behavior, and reduce payment friction, especially for entertainment and gaming, where prepaid is intuitive.
- Intensifies: expect more co-marketed campaigns (gift cards and in-app benefits), stronger seasonal playbooks (holidays, gaming launches), and greater scrutiny of activation integrity, as these SKUs are global fraud targets.
A Bundled Offering, Combining the Following 6 Reports, Covering 700+ Tables and 1,700+ Figures for the Gift Card Market
- Latin America Gift Card Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
- Argentina Gift Card Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
- Brazil Gift Card Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
- Chile Gift Card Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
- Colombia Gift Card Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
- Mexico Gift Card Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
Key Attributes:
| Report Attribute | Details |
| No. of Pages | 1920 |
| Forecast Period | 2026 – 2030 |
| Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2026 | $17.5 Billion |
| Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 | $25.7 Billion |
| Compound Annual Growth Rate | 10.0% |
| Regions Covered | Latin America |
Companies Featured
- Alkosto
- Amazon
- Ara
- Assai Atacadista
- Bodega Aurrera
- Carrefour Hypermarket
- Carrefour Market
- Carulla supermarkets
- Casas Bahia
- Cencosud Brasil
- Chedraui
- Coppel
- Coto Supermercado
- Cruz Verde
- DIA Online
- Disco
- Easy Cencosud
- El Palacio de Hierro
- Exito hypermarkets
- Extra
- Falabella
- Havan
- Home Depot
- Jumbo (Cencosud)
- K-Tronix
- La Anonima
- Lider Express
- Lider Hiper
- Liverpool
- Magazine Luiza
- MercadoLibre
- Mi Bodega Aurrera
- Mas Online (Changomas)
- Natura Cosmeticos
- OXXO
- Paris (Cencosud)
- Ripley
- Sam’s Club
- Santa Isabel
- Sodimac
- Sodimac Homecenter
- Superbodega Acuenta
- Unimarc
- Vea (Cencosud)
- Walmart Supercenter
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/o45o8b
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- Latin American Gift Card Market
