GIFT CARD SALES OUTPACE RETAIL AS BUSINESSES DRIVE DEMAND THROUGH STAFF BENEFITS AND REWARDS Gift card and voucher sales continued to outperform wider retail in the first half of 2025, according to the latest analysis from the Gift Card & Voucher Association (GCVA) and GlobalData. Sales among GCVA members grew by 11.8 percent year-onyear in H1 2025, reaching £1.98bn, more than four times faster than total UK retail sales, which rose by just 2.4 percent over the same period (GlobalData). The figures show that businesses are driving much of this growth. In the first half of 2025, the B2B market accounted for nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of all sales, worth £1.27bn, as employers increasingly turn to gift cards to provide practical financial support and motivate their people. Employee benefits grew by 9.8 percent, while rewards and incentives rose by 20.4%, underlining the central role gift cards play in workplace wellbeing and engagement strategies. Digital adoption also continues to accelerate. Digital gift cards grew 26.5 percent across the market, with consumer digital sales rising by nearly 50 percent (47.9 percent). This reflects changing consumer expectations for flexible, instant and mobile-first formats. At the same time, physical gift cards remain a key part of the sector, with in-store and gift card mall purchases together accounting for more than half of consumer sales, highlighting their continued importance, especially for gifting occasions. GIFTING BRAND TRIPLES WAREHOUSE SPACE AMID RISING UK DEMAND FOR PERSONALISED GIFTS The women-led gifting company Treatbox, based in St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, has expanded into a new 9,000 sq ft warehouse – three times the size of its previous site – to support the continued growth of its operations and team. The move comes as year-on-year demand for personalised gifting continues to rise across the UK, with Treatbox experiencing strong sales of its popular subscription gift boxes. Founded in 2014 by Zoe Charlton, Treatbox was born from the idea to spread kindness and connection through thoughtful gifting. What began as a one-woman small home-based business, has since grown into a thriving women-led operation with 19 employees. Today, Treatbox offers everything from ‘just because’ gifts to monthly subscription boxes and corporate gifting for companies marking milestones such as new starters or work anniversaries. The move to a new site marks a key milestone for Treatbox, providing improved office facilities, a larger fulfilment area, and a studio for photography and content creation – all designed to boost efficiency, scale operations, and strengthen its fast-growing online presence. To support this next phase, Treatbox received a £935,000 funding package from Lloyds, which included a commercial mortgage and additional facilities to help with setup and VAT costs. The finance has enabled the purchase and renovation of the warehouse and will support the recruitment of additional staff across marketing, social media and customer services. With the additional space, Treatbox has been able to double its number of packing stations and streamline fulfilment, cutting packing time per order by 30 percent and doubling order turnaround speed during peak seasons. Together, these improvements have created the capacity to handle over 50 percent more orders per day as the brand continues to grow and reach new audiences. The new site will also enable Treatbox’s in-house designed products - including pyjamas, stationery, and seasonal lines such as its sell-out advent calendar – to continue expanding, with an enhanced corporate gifting range to be introduced. Looking ahead, the company plans to broaden its UK-based manufacturing partnerships and introduce new in-house product lines in the coming years. As its growth continues, Treatbox will also invest in leadership development for its team and expand its content creation capabilities further. www.treatboxuk.com 10 YEARS OF THORTFUL In 2015, thortful was born to give people a glorious escape from aisle after aisle of generic, naff cards. Now, celebrating 10 years and over 37.8 million cards later, the greetings card marketplace has been making the world more ‘thortful’, one unique, sentimental, personal, hilarious card at a time. After nurturing and developing its 6,000+ strong card creator community for a decade, thousands of people have received life-changing money from their relationship with thortful, with £14 million worth of royalties paid out to creators to date. Managing Director Pip Heywood adds: “10 years and £14 million quid! What began as a small idea to shake up the card industry has grown into a movement - a community of creators and customers who believe cards should mean and say a lot more than ‘that’ll do’. A decade on, thortful has paid out over £14 million in royalties to our independent creators - proof that creativity really does connect people. And what’s more, we’ve helped our creators pay off mortgages, pay for weddings, pay for IVF - we never knew, when we started, just how much of a positive impact our model could have! We’ve spent 10 years challenging the ordinary, championing originality, and making the world that bit more thortful, one card at a time. And the best part? We’re only just getting started!” www.thortful.com 10
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