National Use Your Gift Card Day has set January 17, 2026 for its seventh annual campaign, using the weeks after holiday gifting to encourage recipients to spend balances they already hold. The January 5 announcement named Macy’s, Ace Hardware and Applebee’s as supporters. [S01]

The commercial aim is different from selling another card. The value has already been purchased; the campaign seeks to turn ownership of that value into a shopping or dining occasion. A recipient who never visits cannot become a repeat customer through that card alone.

One reminder, three retail models

Tracy Tilson founded the campaign, promoted through UseYourGiftCard.com. Its announcement points to January shopping, home improvement purchases and restaurant bonus-card promotions, without establishing a common discount or shared terms across the participating brands. [S01]

Macy’s combines stores with digital shopping, giving a redemption reminder more than one route back to the retailer. [S04] The opportunity is to bring a gift recipient into the assortment and service experience, potentially introducing the business to someone who did not buy the card.

Ace Hardware has a different ownership structure. Established in 1924 by Chicago hardware store owners, it remains owned by local retail entrepreneurs, with most stores independently operated. [S02] A national campaign can therefore carry customers towards locally run businesses, rather than a uniform chain of company-owned shops.

Applebee’s belongs to Dine Brands and distributes gift cards through restaurants, its website and other retailers. [S03] The separation between where a card is purchased and where a meal is served makes the return visit especially important: a supermarket shopper buying a present is not necessarily the eventual restaurant guest.

Where the merchant benefit could appear

Redemption can create the occasion for a larger basket, a return trip or a relationship with a new customer. These are plausible benefits of bringing someone through the door, not reported results of the 2026 campaign. A merchant still supplies goods or services against the balance, and any additional discount has an economic cost.

The recipient’s interest is simpler: convert an existing balance into something useful. That can align with the merchant’s desire for traffic, but a reminder is not equivalent to newly created purchasing power. The balance already existed before the campaign date.

This also explains why counting redemptions alone would be an incomplete commercial assessment. A promotion might move purchases forward from a later week without increasing total demand. To establish incremental benefit, a retailer would need to distinguish additional visits and spending from transactions that would have happened anyway.

Bonus cards require separate treatment

The announcement’s references to holiday bonus cards do not make every bonus equivalent to an ordinary purchased gift card. [S01] Consumers need the terms of the specific instrument, while merchants need to distinguish a funded gift balance from a promotional benefit when assessing a campaign’s cost.

No January 2026 redemption total or measured sales lift accompanies the announcement. [S01] The event provides a shared reason to contact gift recipients; the economics will depend on the behaviour that follows. For an industry often focused on issuance, that puts attention back on whether the card delivers a useful customer encounter.