The Municipality of Putte in Belgium moved its local gift voucher fully to a digital system October 1, allowing recipients to spread the balance across purchases and participating businesses. [S01]
The change retains the Puttebon’s local spending restriction while altering how value is handled. Recipients can use part of a balance on one visit and return to spend the remainder elsewhere in the participating network. The card cannot be reloaded.
Digital value can still be handed over as a gift
Buyers can purchase the voucher through the municipality-linked Puttebon site. People who prefer to present a physical card can obtain one at town-hall reception or the library during opening hours, according to the announcement. [S01]
The physical presentation and the digital balance therefore remain distinct parts of the programme. The migration does not mean buyers must abandon a card they can hand to a recipient.
The current product terms list digital vouchers of EUR5, EUR10, EUR20 and EUR50. The value remains digitally recorded whether the recipient shows the QR code on a phone or brings a printed version. These are available denominations, not a distribution of actual purchases. [S04]
Published digital Puttebon denominations
Four face values offered by the digital programme in its current product terms.
EUR face value
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Offered values, not sales or redemption observations. Current terms are dated as review context rather than backdated launch-day transaction data.
Show data tableHide data table
| Category | Published value |
|---|---|
| EUR5 voucher | 5 EUR face value |
| EUR10 voucher | 10 EUR face value |
| EUR20 voucher | 20 EUR face value |
| EUR50 voucher | 50 EUR face value |
A merchant operating change
Putte says the new process should make handling easier for participating businesses and reduce administration. It provides no processing-time comparison, migration cost, merchant count or transaction volume with which to measure those expected benefits. [S01]
For a local voucher, retaining value after a partial purchase changes the redemption experience from spending the whole amount at once. The confirmed feature is flexibility across successive purchases within the network.
Further municipal merchant guidance, checked on October 18, identifies CCV for registration and technical support. It says participation and transactions carry no fees, and merchants can use a smartphone, tablet or computer without an additional payment terminal. Paper Puttebon vouchers issued before October 1 remain valid for one year from their own issue date, so merchants can receive both formats during the transition. This is not an extension of an older voucher's expiry or evidence of automatic conversion. [S05]
Paper and digital validity during the Puttebon transition
Both stated validity periods run from each voucher's own issue date.
months from issue
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Sources
Contractual validity, not measured redemption time. No new 12-month extension, automatic conversion, processing-time saving or migration outcome is inferred.
Show data tableHide data table
| Category | Published value |
|---|---|
| Paper issued before October 1 | 12 months from issue |
| New digital voucher | 12 months from issue |
Photograph: Sally V, March 28, 2017, via Wikimedia Commons. Archival municipal context, not the October 2026 programme event. Resized and cropped for responsive and social formats. The photograph, its image adaptations and derived social image retain CC BY-SA 4.0. [S02] [S03]
In this article
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed covers industry acquisitions, investment and market research for Gift Card News.