Reloadly has published guidance on switching gift card API providers while maintaining the catalogue and fulfilment experience used by an existing reward programme. Its approach starts with the current contract and actual purchasing history, before moving to technical migration and transaction continuity.

The guide advises businesses to examine termination notice periods, exclusivity provisions and minimum-volume commitments before committing to a new supplier. These terms can affect both the timing of a change and whether the programme can operate two providers during a transition.

Catalogue comparison should be based on what recipients have actually ordered. Reloadly recommends reviewing the previous two quarters of transactions and matching those products against the proposed supplier's coverage by brand, country, currency and denomination. Fixed-value and variable-value products need to be considered separately, along with the way availability is handled.

The company cites its own catalogue of more than 1,000 brands and 14,000 products across more than 150 countries. The operational comparison, however, remains at product level: a large global total cannot establish that a particular programme's frequently used local reward is available on the same terms.

Where contracts allow parallel suppliers, the guide suggests starting with a limited segment or geography. The transition can then be assessed through fulfilment failures, redemption problems and support demand. Defining conditions for returning traffic to the previous provider gives the programme a clear response if the change disrupts recipients.

Historical transactions also need to remain accessible. Refunds, disputes and financial reconciliation may involve rewards issued before the migration, so replacing an ordering connection does not remove the need to retain those records.

For reward platforms evaluating a supplier change, Reloadly frames the work as a combination of commercial review, product mapping and controlled transfer of orders. The guidance is aimed at protecting the catalogue that recipients already use while moving the systems responsible for sourcing and delivering it.