Canonical URL: https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/ --- description: Virtual Incentives reported faster growth in virtual than physical Visa issuance and urged reward programs to consider digital delivery to reduce plastic use. title: Virtual Incentives reports 95% growth in virtual Visa issuance during 2021 image: https://giftcard.news/images/social/v1/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-e4c7985400ddcaa744f8e44bb9da40c9.jpg --- 1. [Home](https://giftcard.news/) 2. [Gift Cards](https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/) # Virtual Incentives reports 95% growth in virtual Visa issuance during 2021 Virtual Incentives reported faster growth in virtual than physical Visa issuance and urged reward programs to consider digital delivery to reduce plastic use. By [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) April 21, 2022 1 min read Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fgift-cards%2Fvirtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Virtual%20Incentives%20reports%2095%25%20growth%20in%20virtual%20Visa%20issuance%20during%202021 "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fgift-cards%2Fvirtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Virtual%20Incentives%20reports%2095%25%20growth%20in%20virtual%20Visa%20issuance%20during%202021%20https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fgift-cards%2Fvirtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "WhatsApp") ![Source image for Virtual Incentives Sees 95% Growth in Digital Gift Card Issuance as Companies Shift Towards Sustainable Payments](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees-w1280.webp) Photo: Source: virtualincentives.com [Virtual Incentives](https://giftcard.news/company/virtual-incentives/) reported a 95% year-over-year rise in its virtual [Visa](https://giftcard.news/company/visa/) issuance during 2021, compared with 65% growth in physical Visa gift cards. The company disclosed the figures in an April 21, 2022 article ahead of Earth Day, arguing that reward programs should consider digital alternatives to plastic cards. The figures describe issuance through Virtual Incentives. The company used the difference in growth rates to illustrate increasing use of its digital payment options while discussing ways businesses could reduce the physical materials associated with rewards. Virtual Incentives pointed to the PVC used in many physical payment and gift cards, saying these cards are generally not accepted through ordinary curbside or commercial recycling programs. Moving a reward to digital delivery avoids issuing that plastic card. At the time, the company said its platform offered electronic gift cards from more than 1,050 brands across 51 countries and 43 currencies. It also highlighted immediate delivery and recipient choice as operational benefits of digital rewards. The article cited [Deloitte](https://giftcard.news/company/deloitte/) research on consumer expectations around single-use plastics and positioned digital delivery as one part of an environmental, social and governance program. It did not quantify the emissions saved by switching cards, and acknowledged that replacing physical rewards would address only part of a company’s environmental goals. ## Sources and documents ExpandCollapse * [Issue Digital Payments to Fight Climate Change](https://www.virtualincentives.com/issue-digital-payments-to-fight-climate-change/?utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news) — virtualincentives.com ## In this article ### Companies * [Deloitte](https://giftcard.news/company/deloitte/) * [Virtual Incentives](https://giftcard.news/company/virtual-incentives/) * [Visa](https://giftcard.news/company/visa/) Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fgift-cards%2Fvirtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Virtual%20Incentives%20reports%2095%25%20growth%20in%20virtual%20Visa%20issuance%20during%202021 "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fgift-cards%2Fvirtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Virtual%20Incentives%20reports%2095%25%20growth%20in%20virtual%20Visa%20issuance%20during%202021%20https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fgift-cards%2Fvirtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "WhatsApp") ![Portrait of Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait-w320.webp) About the author ## [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) Journalist — Payments, Security & PCI DSS Daniel Brooks covers payment networks, financial technology, payment security, gift card fraud and PCI DSS for Gift Card News. From reading to building ## Your next move in gift cards. Tell us what you’re building. We’ll help you explore suitable providers. [Find a provider ](https://giftcard.news/find-a-provider/) ## Related articles [Gift Cards](https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/) News ### [FareHarbor connects Factor4 gift cards to its online booking checkout](https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/fareharbor-factor4-gift-cards-online-booking-checkout/) [Suzie Elis](https://giftcard.news/author/suzie-elis/) September 17, 2026 2 min [Gift Cards](https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/) News ### [Tillo Powers Military Connect’s Discounted Digital Gift Card Programme](https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/tillo-military-connect-discounted-digital-gift-cards/) [Suzie Elis](https://giftcard.news/author/suzie-elis/) September 15, 2026 2 min [Gift Cards](https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/) News ### [Kohl’s expands Babies R Us shops and adds lower-priced baby gifts](https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/kohl-s-expands-babies-r-us-shops-and-adds-lower-priced-baby-gifts-8327d70bb56c/) [Emma Carter](https://giftcard.news/author/emma-carter/) September 14, 2026 2 min ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher","name":"Gift Card News","url":"https://giftcard.news/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/brand/giftcard-news-logo.svg"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/#person","name":"Daniel Brooks","url":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/","description":"Daniel Brooks covers payment networks, financial technology, payment security, gift card fraud and PCI DSS for Gift Card News.","jobTitle":"Journalist — Payments, Security & PCI DSS","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp","width":256,"height":256,"caption":"Illustrated portrait representing the Daniel Brooks editorial profile."}},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees.webp","width":1920,"height":1280,"@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees.webp#image"},{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/#article","url":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/","headline":"Virtual Incentives reports 95% growth in virtual Visa issuance during 2021","description":"Virtual Incentives reported faster growth in virtual than physical Visa issuance and urged reward programs to consider digital delivery to reduce plastic use.","datePublished":"2022-04-21T17:50:21.000Z","dateModified":"2022-04-21T17:50:21.000Z","inLanguage":"en","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#website"},"isAccessibleForFree":false,"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccessibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".reader-restricted"},"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees.webp","width":1920,"height":1280,"@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees.webp#image"}],"articleSection":"Gift Cards","keywords":["Deloitte","Virtual Incentives","Visa"],"mentions":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/company/deloitte/#entity","name":"Deloitte","url":"https://giftcard.news/company/deloitte/"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/company/virtual-incentives/#entity","name":"Virtual Incentives","url":"https://giftcard.news/company/virtual-incentives/"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/company/visa/#entity","name":"Visa","url":"https://giftcard.news/company/visa/"}],"wordCount":211,"citation":["https://www.virtualincentives.com/issue-digital-payments-to-fight-climate-change/"],"author":[{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/#person"}],"publisher":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/#webpage","url":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/","name":"Virtual Incentives reports 95% growth in virtual Visa issuance during 2021","description":"Virtual Incentives reported faster growth in virtual than physical Visa issuance and urged reward programs to consider digital delivery to reduce plastic use.","inLanguage":"en","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#website"},"mainEntity":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/#article"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/#breadcrumbs"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/virtual-incentives-reports-95-growth-visa-issuance-during-2021-source-image-sees.webp#image"}},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/#breadcrumbs","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://giftcard.news/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gift Cards","item":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Virtual Incentives reports 95% growth in virtual Visa issuance during 2021","item":"https://giftcard.news/gift-cards/virtual-incentives-sees-95-growth-in-digital-gift-card-issuance-as-compa-05957b6e17cd/"}]}]} ```