Lidl Ireland and epay launched gift card displays in 175 stores across the Republic of Ireland, the companies announced on 14 November 2022. The rollout brought third-party gaming, streaming and entertainment gift cards into the supermarket's physical retail network. [S01] [S02]

The displays, described in the release as gift card malls, were already available for shoppers. epay, a business segment of Euronet Worldwide, handled technical and commercial implementation, including design, production and integration with Lidl's checkout systems. [S01]

The store rollout

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The store rollout

Element

Announced arrangement

Retailer

Lidl Ireland

Footprint

175 stores in the Republic of Ireland

Format

Physical displays of third-party gift cards

Categories highlighted

Gaming, streaming and entertainment

Checkout connection

API integration for card activation and transactions

Implementation partner

epay

Source: the November 2022 release. The footprint refers to the Republic of Ireland rollout and should not be read as the combined Ireland and Northern Ireland estate. [S01]

The checkout is part of the product

A gift card display provides visibility, but the purchase only becomes useful when the card is correctly activated and the transaction is recorded. That connection between merchandising and checkout processing is central to a physical gift card programme. The announced implementation covered both sides of that process.

For the retailer, the arrangement added a gifting category to an existing shopping trip. For the participating brands, it provided another route to customers through a supermarket estate. Neither opportunity on its own establishes incremental sales; the release did not publish transaction values, redemption rates or customer acquisition results.

Richard Robertson, then epay's managing director, described the launch as the first nationwide physical gift card mall rollout for the partnership. Lidl's announcement spokespeople were business development director Liam Butler and strategic partnerships manager Conor Banahan. Their comments focused on connecting shoppers with additional brands. [S02]

The commercial development was the combination of store access, display delivery and checkout integration. Assessing its subsequent performance would require evidence about card availability, activation reliability and repeat purchases, beyond the number of participating stores.