Giftbit's 2026 Incentives Trend Report shows its customers offering broader reward choice more often, with Full Catalog sends rising from 29.9% in 2024 to 41.4% in 2025. The report was announced on March 18, 2026 and examines earlier platform activity, rather than transactions occurring in 2026. [S01] [S02]
What changed in the platform data
Single-brand rewards represented 34.4% of 2025 sends, while curated selections accounted for 24.2%. Rewards with no claim deadline reached 58.2%, compared with 52.9% in 2024. These are Giftbit's reported shares, not estimates of the entire incentives market. [S02]
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| Offer type | 2024 share | 2025 share |
|---|---|---|
| Full Catalog | 29.9% | 41.4% |
| Single Brand | 35.9% | 34.4% |
| Custom Selection | 34.3% | 24.2% |
Giftbit reward-choice mix in 2024 and 2025
Reported shares of Giftbit platform sends, not the overall incentives market.
percent of sends
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Source
Platform sending mix, not gift-card market share or recipient preference. Rounded2024shares sum100.1; do not adjust. Client counts, geography and consistent-cohort analysis are not disclosed.
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| Category | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Full catalog | 29.9 percent of sends | 41.4 percent of sends |
| Single brand | 35.9 percent of sends | 34.4 percent of sends |
| Custom selection | 34.3 percent of sends | 24.2 percent of sends |
The distinction between sender configuration and recipient preference is important. More Full Catalog sends demonstrate that clients chose to offer a wider menu. They do not alone establish that recipients requested the change, or that it caused better retention or sales.
The report also describes different claim timing by audience and interprets larger rewards as attracting more practical selections. Its public presentation does not disclose a transaction count or a sampling design establishing representativeness beyond the platform. [S01] [S02]
Why this matters to Giftbit's business
Giftbit supplies a web platform and API for organisations distributing digital rewards. A catalogue allowing a recipient to choose among brands is therefore central to its product, rather than an incidental feature of the report. [S03]
Broader choice can make the distributor useful to a wider range of programmes and reduce the sender's need to predict preferences. It also gives the catalogue operator a continuing role between the funding organisation and the brand ultimately selected.
The commercial benefit for a sponsor is potentially less effort choosing rewards for mixed audiences. The trade-off is that a more flexible offer may require the recipient to make a decision before receiving a usable card. Faster selection and more choice are not necessarily the same objective.
Claim-window design is another part of the distributor’s service. Giftbit reports that Standard rewards, with no claim-by date, increased from a monthly-average 52.9% of sends in 2024 to 58.2% in 2025. Promotional rewards retained a defined claim window. That distinction concerns the reward offer before a recipient selects a card; it is not automatically the expiry of the merchant card eventually issued. [S02][S04]
Giftbit reward sends by claim-window type
Reported shares of Giftbit platform sends, not the overall incentives market.
monthly-average percent of sends
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Source
A claim-by window belongs to the pre-selection reward offer, not necessarily merchant gift-card validity. Does not measure revenue or breakage income. Fee/revenue-sharing schedules are different facts. Client counts, geography and consistent-cohort analysis are not disclosed.
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| Category | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Standard: no claim-by date | 52.9 monthly-average percent of sends | 58.2 monthly-average percent of sends |
| Promotional: time-bound claim window | 47.1 monthly-average percent of sends | 41.8 monthly-average percent of sends |
A benchmark, not a causal explanation
Changes in a platform's sending mix can reflect existing customers changing programmes, new customers joining, or the relative growth of different use cases. Without a consistent-cohort analysis, those possibilities cannot be separated from the reported shares.
The same caution applies to claim times. A slower claim can reflect deliberation, delivery conditions or the composition of recipients. The report's behavioural interpretation is plausible, but the published numbers do not independently establish the motive.
The published means moved in different directions across use cases. Consumer-incentive claim time fell from 9.5 to 6.8 days, while disbursements rose from 12.1 to 15.9 days. These provider-reported averages lack cohort counts and treatment of unclaimed offers, so they cannot isolate a reward-choice effect or prescribe a deadline for another programme. [S02][S04]
Giftbit reported mean claim time by use case
Published average days by programme use case; cohort composition and unclaimed treatment undisclosed.
reported mean days to claim
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Source
Provider labels these average claim times; inclusion, unclaimed treatment and cohort sizes are not disclosed. Differences by use case do not prove choice or deadline caused an improvement. The report also uses claim-by deadline terminology; its exact averaging method is not disclosed.
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| Category | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer incentives | 9.5 reported mean days to claim | 6.8 reported mean days to claim |
| Disbursements | 12.1 reported mean days to claim | 15.9 reported mean days to claim |
| Employee rewards | 7.4 reported mean days to claim | 8.7 reported mean days to claim |
| Other | 12.6 reported mean days to claim | 10.4 reported mean days to claim |
Non-expiring claim offers can give recipients more time, while promotional deadlines may suit time-limited campaigns. Their financial treatment differs, so the choice is not merely a design preference.
The report is useful as evidence of how one distributor's activity changed. Its stronger commercial message is that Giftbit can serve both broad-choice ongoing programmes and focused promotions. The unresolved question is how those formats affect actual programme outcomes once audience mix, reward value and cost are taken into account.
In this article
Suzie Elis
Suzie Elis covers gift card products, digital gifting and distribution for Gift Card News.