A digital gift card provider has announced that Britons have bought £1 million worth of digital gift cards over the past 12 months
The service became available to British consumers for the first in Autumn 2014 and this Christmas is expected to bring in a record surge in digital gifting.

Digital gift card service Giftcloud revealed that Britons bought digital presents for their peers to the tune of over a million pounds during the last year. The service has only been available in the UK for 18 months, yet it has recorded huge growth.

With the potential for instant gift giving, the appeal of the digital gift cards has previously peaked at Christmas time, said the company, as shoppers turn away from the long last-minute queues and limited opening hours of the high-street and consider more convenient options. Equally, the company was keen to reinforce the message that digital gift cards are less likely to be lost or reach their expiry, as the recipient receives several reminders before their digital gifts lose their value.

As a result, the digital gift cards have increased in popularity and Giftcloud has experienced a surge of interest from the B2B market, as companies look to gift, reward or compensate both employees and customers en masse. The company currently provides digital gift cards for Amazon UK, Argos, Currys PC World, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Marks & Spencer.

Giftcloud founder Greg LeTocq commented: "It's really been a case of working hard to educate the public about digital gifting services. It's something that most people in the UK had never seen before, let alone used, so we've spent a lot of resources on encouraging people to give it a try... you can buy the gift cards, send them, and redeem them all using nothing more than a smartphone. It's very relevant for our lifestyles now, where we want everything at our fingertips with minimum fuss."