A new industry report released by ResearchAndMarkets.com projects that Africa’s gift card industry will expand to about $8.5 billion by 2030, driven by fintech platforms, payment ecosystems and major retail chains reshaping how stored-value products are issued and used across the continent.
According to the Q1 2026 update of its databook on Africa’s gift card business and investment opportunities, the sector is expected to grow 11.6 per cent year-on-year to reach $5.6 billion in 2026, following a strong 12.5 per cent compound annual growth recorded between 2021 and 2025. Analysts forecast a further 10.9 per cent CAGR from 2026 through 2030, signalling sustained expansion.
The report notes that competition over the next few years will centre on distribution dominance, with fintech marketplaces expanding cross-border catalogues, payment networks embedding vouchers into everyday transactions, and retailers strengthening loyalty ecosystems to retain stored value within their platforms.
Africa’s market remains fragmented by country, operating at the intersection of retail gift cards, digital vouchers and fintech-driven prepaid systems. Competitive intensity is strongest where modern retail chains have scaled omnichannel operations and digital financial platforms already distribute value products through apps and merchant networks.
Among leading players, Flutterwave runs a dedicated marketplace offering third-party gift cards and voucher codes, competing primarily on speed of delivery and catalogue depth. In North Africa, Fawry integrates e-vouchers and partner offers into its payments ecosystem, leveraging its wide merchant acceptance network.
Retail incumbents in South Africa — including Pick n Pay, Shoprite Group and Checkers — are shaping closed-loop competition through loyalty-linked products that influence where customers earn and spend stored value.
Recent deal activity has occurred largely in adjacent retail and payment infrastructure rather than among pure-play gift card firms. For instance, Pepkor’s acquisition of Retailability brands expanded store networks that could later support voucher distribution. In Egypt, Fawry’s partnerships with Orange Egypt and FORSA have strengthened its ecosystem scale and bundling capacity.
In Kenya, digital vouchers are increasingly delivered through mobile-money wallets such as M-Pesa and accepted via payment rails linked to Safaricom infrastructure. Analysts say this trend reflects how mobile money has become the default transaction layer for daily spending, making gift cards a natural extension of existing payment habits.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, demand for international brand gift cards is rising as consumers use them to bypass limits on cross-border payments for streaming, gaming and global e-commerce. Platforms such as Paystack and Flutterwave facilitate distribution of prepaid value as part of broader merchant payment solutions.
Corporate adoption is also accelerating. Companies increasingly deploy reloadable or multi-merchant gift cards for staff rewards, incentives and disbursements, replacing cash-based bonuses because they offer greater auditability and reduce leakage risks. Industry observers expect business-to-business and hybrid B2B2C use cases to outpace consumer gifting growth in coming years.
The study concludes that digital-first issuance will dominate new gift card supply, with physical cards gradually declining in strategic importance and surviving mainly in malls and supermarkets. Super-apps and online marketplaces are likely to treat gift cards less as traditional presents and more as balance-management tools designed to lock users into their ecosystems.
With Africa’s payments landscape estimated at roughly $17.7 billion and still expanding, analysts say the convergence of fintech innovation, retail distribution power and mobile-money adoption is set to redefine the role of stored-value instruments across the continent’s commerce ecosystem.
