Gift cards have long been a go-to tool for boosting sales and customer loyalty. But in the digital age, their value goes far beyond the transaction. They’re becoming a key data source—revealing insights into visitor behavior, campaign effectiveness, and seasonal trends.
When this data is analyzed and enhanced with machine learning, gift cards unlock powerful opportunities to predict foot traffic, sales, and user patterns.
In this post, we reveal how this transformation unfolds—step by step:
Data Collection: The Foundation of Insight
Good analytics starts with relevant, high-quality, and time-synced data. For shopping centers and gift card systems, this includes:
- Footfall – hourly/daily visitor counts by entrance or floor
- Events & Promotions – sales, local events, or campaign calendars
- Gift card usage – issued cards, number of transactions, value
- External factors – weather APIs (like OpenWeather or ARSO), school holidays, national holidays
📌 These data streams must be connected, cleaned, normalized, and prepped for analysis.
Analysis & Visualization: Clear Answers to Complex Questions
Once ready, the data is explored via interactive BI dashboards to understand:
- How do users behave throughout the year?
- Which days are best for sales or card usage?
- How do events, holidays, or weather impact traffic?
Tools like Power BI or Metabase help reveal trends, anomalies, and seasonal patterns—leading to smarter decisions instantly.
Predictive Intelligence: The Next Level of Gifting Power
With a stable data flow and enough history, machine learning enables predictions like:
- Gift card sales – forecasted by weather, holidays, or local events
- Redemption patterns – when and where cards are most often used
- Foot traffic – what drives higher or lower visitor numbers
- Campaign targeting – who to reach, when, and with what message
💡 This leads to optimized marketing, smarter staffing, better stock planning—and more revenue on otherwise slower days.
So, what’s in it for shopping centers?
✔️ Better planning – predict sales and footfall
✔️ More effective campaigns – timely and targeted
✔️ Smarter use of marketing budgets
✔️ Location insights – for internal signage and media buys
✔️ Transparency for tenants – understand what campaigns really deliver
✔️ More value from existing systems – gift cards become business intelligence tools
If you’re already running a gift card program, you’re sitting on a goldmine of insights.
💡 Let’s turn your data into impact.
