[2/3] Gift Cards: Customers Interaction & Orders

[2/3] Gift Cards: Customers Interaction & Orders

Gift Cards Handling & Orders

Gift cards are a convenient and flexible way for customers to shop or share a gift with their loved ones. Our FTx Commerce platform offers both digital and physical gift cards, allowing customers to choose the best option based on their needs.
  1. Digital Gift Cards: Instantly delivered via email, making them perfect for last-minute gifting.
  2. Physical Gift Cards: Shipped to the recipient, providing a tangible gifting experience.
The Gift Cards module is covered across multiple KB articles. This KB focuses on how customers can purchase, access, and manage both types of Gift Cards effortlessly through your FTx Commerce online store. It includes the following customer interactions:
  1. Purchase Digital and Physical Gift Cards
  2. Access My Gift Cards (for registered users) or use “Find My Gift Cards” (for guest users)
  3. Orders with Gift Cards and use Gift Cards as a payment method at checkout
  4. Sending Digital Gift Cards directly to others via email
  5. Track Gift Card balance and transaction history

1. Customer Interactions for Gift Cards

When customers land on the home page of FTx Commerce site/app, they can access the Gift Cards page. They will get the "Gift Card" module and interact with it in mainly the following ways:
  1. Gift Cards Page: A dedicated page where customers can browse both preset and custom amount gift cards (available in digital and physical formats).
  2. Gift Cards Purchase: Buy digital and/or physical gift cards online.
  3. Redeem/Use Gift Card Balance: Use gift card balances for online and in-store purchases.
  4. My Gift Cards: Registered customers can view their gift card balances and transaction history from the FTx Commerce site/app itself, while the Guest users (non-registered) can check their gift card details and balance through the "Find My Gift Cards" menu or by referring to the gift card email they received.
  5. Send as a Gift: After purchasing a digital gift card, customers can share it via email and include a personalized greeting message.
  6. Check Gift Card Balance: Enter the 12-digit gift card number to check the available gift card balance and the previous transaction details.

1.1 Gift Cards

Once gift card configurations are completed from the Control Center and Store Admin panel, both registered and guest users can:

  • Access the Gift Cards page.

  • Purchase digital or physical gift cards.

  • Use their gift card balance during checkout (online or in-store).

  • View gift card balances and past transactions.

The Gift Cards page is accessible from:

  1. The header at the top-right corner of the Home Page.
  2. The left navigation menu under the Offers section.
  3. The footer menu under the second Predefined column (if enabled).

Figure 1.1.1 - Navigate to Gift Cards

Note: If customers access the FTx Commerce site via a web browser or a browser-based app, they can find the Gift Cards option in the left-side navigation menu.

When customers redirect to the Gift Cards page, they will see gift cards displayed with preset $ values and the option to enter a custom $ amount within the range (if configured in Control Center).

Figure 1.1.2 - Gift Cards Listing

1.2 Buying Gift Cards

Both registered (logged-in) users and guest (non-registered) users can purchase gift cards by adding them to their cart and placing an order, just like any physical product.

  1. Purchase digital and physical gift cards together in a single order.
  2. Combine gift cards with other physical items in their cart.

1.2.1 Physical & Digital Gift Cards

Digital Gift Cards:

  • Registered Users – The digital gift card will appear immediately in the My Gift Cards section upon successful order placement.

  • Guest Users – The gift card will be delivered via email to the email address provided during the customer's verification.

Physical Gift Cards:

  • Physical gift cards follow the same fulfillment process as physical products. Customers can select either in-store pickup or delivery/shipping, based on their chosen fulfillment option. Both types of users can buy the physical gift cards.

Note: If a digital gift card is purchased along with physical gift cards or other physical products, it will be automatically split into a separate order and marked as fulfilled immediately upon successful order placement.

Adding a Gift Card to Cart
Customers can purchase digital and/or physical gift cards in multiple quantities with the same dollar amount. Gift cards can be added to the cart just like any other physical item.

Figure 1.2.2.1 Gift Cards in Cart

Cart Option for Gift Cards
Cart options will be hidden and not applicable when only digital gift cards are present in the cart.
  1. Digital Gift Card: Some options on the cart/checkout page will not be applied, such as substitution, time slot selection, substitution, tax calculation, discount, and buydowns.
  2. Physical Gift Card: Treated as a standard physical item. Time slot selection will apply, but substitution, tax calculation, discount, and buydowns will not be applicable.
Figure 1.2.2.2 Cart option when gift cards are in the cart

Include Gift Cards for Min Order Amount Calculation
If the "Include Gift Card" option is enabled in the Store Admin settings, the $ value of gift cards in the cart will be counted toward meeting the minimum order amount requirement.
If this option is disabled, the gift card $ value will be excluded from the calculation. In that case, customers must purchase additional physical items or increase the quantity of existing items in the cart to meet the required minimum order amount.

Without Including Gift Card Amount:
Figure 1.2.2.3 Additional Fee Applied

Gift Card Amount Included:
Figure 1.2.2.4 No Additional Fee

1.3 Gift Cards Order


Figure 3.4 - Gift cards along with physical items
For both registered and guest users, if a digital gift card is purchased along with physical items or physical gift cards, the system will automatically split the order when the order is placed successfully.
Retailers should be aware of the following processes and steps for handling such orders.

1.4.1 Order Separation

Digital Gift Cards:
Digital gift cards are processed as a separate order, while physical items and physical gift cards are grouped into the same order. The separated digital gift card order and another order with physical items/physical gift cards are displayed on the Thank You page immediately after the order is placed successfully.

Figure 3.4.1 Separate Orders of Digital & Physical Gift Cards

Once the order is placed, the digital card will appear under "My Gift Cards → Newly Purchased." While physical gift cards will be listed under the Orders section and follow the standard fulfillment process.
So, the Digital gift cards are delivered virtually, whereas physical gift cards are fulfilled and handed over in person or delivered/shipped as per the selected fulfillment method.

1.4.2 My Gift Cards

Access Paths:
Figure 3.4.2.1 My Gift Cards
  1. Registered Users: They can access the My Gift Cards section by clicking on their profile icon.
  2. Guest Users: They can access their gift cards via previous email notifications or the "Find My Gift Cards" option.
Both user types can manage their gift cards through the My Gift Cards section, where they will find four distinct tabs to interact with based on their gift card activity:
Newly Purchased | Activated | Sent as a Gift | Redeemed

1. Newly Purchased
This tab displays only digital gift cards that were recently purchased and remain here until the customer takes an action — either to activate or send them as a gift.
  1. Activate: Enables the digital gift card for the customer's personal use.
    Action: Upon clicking the "Activate" button, a confirmation pop-up appears. If the customer clicks "Yes," the card is moved to the Activated tab.
    Note: Until activated, the card stays in the Newly Purchased tab.
  2. Gift via Email: Allows customers to send the digital gift card to someone via email.
    Action: After filling in the recipient's email address, name, and an optional greeting message, the gift card is emailed. Once sent, it is moved to the Sent as a Gift tab.
    Note: Physical gift cards will never appear in the Newly Purchased tab. They begin to appear under Activated only after the order is fulfilled.
Figure 3.4.2.2 Separate Orders of Digital & Physical Gift Cards

2. Activated
This tab shows all gift cards that are ready to use — both digital and physical.
  1. Digital Gift Cards: Once activated by the customer, digital gift cards are moved here and become available for online or in-store redemption.
  2. Physical Gift cards: Appear here only after the order is fulfilled, indicating they are also ready for use.

Figure 3.4.2.3 Activated
From this tab, customers can:
  1. View Balance: Check the available balance within each gift card’s record.
  2. View Transactions: Click the "View Transaction" button to review the gift card’s usage history.

Figure 3.4.2.4 View Transaction

3. Sent as a Gift
This tab displays digital gift cards that have been sent to someone else via email with the current status.
> Status:
  1. Pending: Appears until the recipient activates the card from the email they received.
  2. Activated: Once the recipient activates the card, the status updates automatically.
> Retract Gift Card:
  1. If the recipient hasn't activated the card yet, the sender can retract it. The card will be moved back to the Newly Purchased tab so the customer can decide again.
  2. Once the recipient activates the gift card, the Retract option is no longer available.

Figure 3.4.2.5 Sent Gift Card via Email

4. Redeemed
This section displays both Digital and Physical Gift Cards that have been fully redeemed, either through online or in-store purchases.

Figure 3.4.2.4 Used Gift Cards

3.4 Redeem Gift Card Balance

During order placement, customers can utilize their gift card balance under the Payment and Billing Information section. The use gift card section displays the total available gift card balance. To redeem this balance as a payment method, customers need to enable the switch.


Figure 3.4.1: Gift Card option

Gift Card Redemption Methods
Automatically Apply Gift Card Balance: Applies the balance of linked gift cards that the customer has purchased and activated for personal use.
Manually Find a Gift Card: Customers can enter a 12-digit gift card number to redeem physical gift cards bought from the store or online.
Multiple gift cards can be applied to a single order.

Figure 3.4.2: Enabling Use gift card option
Once the order is placed, the gift card(s) used are considered as a payment method. Even if multiple cards are used, only the last 4 digits of each will be displayed in:
Customer-Facing Order Views | Invoice-PDFs | Store employee views within the Fulfillment portal.

Figure 3.4.3: Gift Card as Payment Method

3.5 Gift Cards Options & Emails

A few additional options and notifications are available to enhance the customer experience when managing gift cards.

3.5.1 Gift Card Options for Customers

Customers can access gift card-related options from the Gift Cards page.

  • My Gift Cards: This option is applicable to the logged in customers. They can have a quick redirection to their gift cards menu instead navigating to the Profile -> My Gift Cards option. If the user isn't logged in, Sign In/Sign Up window will appear.


Figure 3.5.1.1

  • Check Gift Card Balance: Customers with either digital or physical gift cards can check their current balance. For digital gift cards, transaction history is also available.

  • Gift Card Policy: Customers can view the gift card policy via a redirect to the CMS page configured in Store Admin > Settings > General > Legal.

  • Find Gift Card: If customers forget their gift card number, they can use the Find Gift Cards feature. By entering the email address used during purchase, the system will send an email with gift card access links associated with that address. This option is only visible when the user is not logged in to the FTx Commerce site or app. It is particularly useful for guest users or non-registered customers to retrieve their gift cards via email.


Figure 3.5.1.2

3.5.2 Email Notifications

Retailers and store employees should understand the types of email notifications related to gift cards, whether purchased or redeemed by the customers.

  • Gift Card Order Email
    When customers place an order that includes both digital and physical gift cards, the orders will be separated in Digital Gift Card and Physical Item/Gift Card.


Customers receive Email for Gift Cards order

Customers will receive a separate email notification of the Digital gift card(s) order. If multiple digital gift cards are included in one order, all of them are listed in a single email. Customers will receive a separate email notification of the physical items and physical gift cards in a group. 

  • Digital Gift Card Purchase Email
    If the digital gift card(s) in the order, customers will receive one more separate email notification that will instruct the customers how to start using digital gift cards.

  • Order Email Notifications to Store Employees
    When the customers place the order with digital and physical gift cards along with the physical items, the store employees will receive an email notification of gift cards. So, they can start handling the physical gift cards on fulfillment portal.
    If customers have redeemed the Gift Card balance during order placement, the store employees can see the     Order Total with the final amount, while the Mode of Payment section reflects whether payment was made by: Gift Card Only | Gift Card & Credit/Debit Card | Credit/Debit Card Only.

  • Order Email Notifications with Gift Card Redemption
    The order summary includes a clear bifurcation of payment methods. When the customers have redeemed the Gift Card balance during order placement, the Order Total shows the final amount, while the Mode of Payment section reflects whether payment was made by:
    Gift Card Only | Gift Card & Credit/Debit Card | Credit/Debit Card Only.

4. Fulfillment: Handling Gift Cards
  1. Digital Gift Card Order: Once the customer places an order that includes a digital gift card, it is automatically moved to the Fulfilled Orders stage without requiring any manual handling.
  2. Physical Gift Card Order: Orders containing physical gift cards are treated like regular physical items and must go through the standard order fulfillment process by store employees.
Info
Refer to the following linked KB articles:
1. "Gift Card Orders & Reports" are explained in: “[3/3] Gift Cards: Orders & Reports”
2. "Manage the Gift Cards orders are explained in: Handling Gift Card Orders.

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