Middle East Gift Card And Incentive Card Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2025 - 2030)

Middle East Gift Card And Incentive Card Market Trends and Insights

Explosive e-commerce and digital-payment penetration

Rising smartphone ownership, improved logistics, and competitive delivery pricing have lifted regional e-commerce to double-digit growth. Mobile wallets already process almost one-fifth of GCC point-of-sale value, and network effects inside super-apps amplify gift-card discoverability at checkout. Players such as STC Pay and Tabby embed stored-value rails directly within their ecosystems, allowing real-time issuance, split payments, and cashback promotions^{[1]Majid Al Futtaim launched enhanced corporate gift-card programs with bulk-ordering and brand-customization features for enterprise clients across the GCC.} . Repetitive online grocery orders cultivate habitual digital-payment behaviour, which favours instant stored-value solutions over cash. As checkout friction declines, e-gift cards convert impulse buying into immediately redeemable credit, expanding the Middle East gift card market.

Government cash-lite agendas (Saudi Vision 2030)

Saudi Arabia is focusing on strategic investments in network infrastructure and open-banking frameworks to meet its goal of achieving 70% digital-payment penetration by 2030. These initiatives are designed to enhance the efficiency of payment systems by reducing issuance costs and enabling near-instant transaction processing. By prioritizing these advancements, the country aims to strengthen its digital economy, improve financial inclusion, and support the broader objectives of its Vision 2030 framework^{[2]Majid Al Futtaim launched enhanced corporate gift-card programs with bulk-ordering and brand-customization features for enterprise clients across the GCC.} . SAMA’s Counter-Fraud Framework elevates security standards, boosting consumer confidence in prepaid instruments. Parallel initiatives undertaken in the UAE and Qatar are strategically aimed at improving the interoperability of instant-payment infrastructures. This development is expected to drive a substantial expansion in the number of acceptance points at retail terminals, with significant progress anticipated by 2030. Regulatory backing translates into predictable breakage rules and clearer KYC obligations, spurring issuer participation and sustaining the Middle East gift card market’s momentum.

Corporate digitization of employee rewards

Ninety-six percent of UAE employers now seek personalized digital-benefit solutions. Platforms like Merit Incentives and Qashio integrate with HR and payroll suites, enabling bulk issuance, spend controls, and tax-optimized bonuses. SMEs prefer prepaid value because it reduces administrative overhead and simplifies multi-currency disbursement across cross-border teams. Banks partner with fintechs to white label these products, creating recurring fee income while locking in corporate clients. As remote and hybrid work deepen, digital rewards replace physical vouchers, strengthening enterprise demand within the Middle East gift card market.

Growing expatriate and millennial population with a gifting culture

The GCC hosts over 15 million expatriates, many remitting gifts during religious celebrations and family milestones. Millennials and Gen Z, representing roughly 60% of the UAE population, favor digital formats that integrate social-media sharing. Multi-merchant cards appeal to experiential gift preferences, allowing recipients to spend on dining, travel, and entertainment. Visa's consumer tracking data indicates a significant increase in the adoption of prepaid cards, with this payment method emerging as the most preferred choice among users. This trend highlights a growing shift in consumer payment preferences, driven by the convenience and flexibility offered by prepaid solutions. Seasonal peaks during Ramadan and Eid now account for a rising share of total issuance, reinforcing cyclical demand in the Middle East gift card market.

High fraud and charge-back risk in cross-border digital cards

LexisNexis reports that 52% of Saudi digital-payment fraud originates online, spotlighting liability concerns for issuers and merchants^{[3]LexisNexis Risk Solutions, “True Cost of Fraud Study,” risk.lexisnexis.com} . Divergent KYC standards across MENA enable account takeovers and bulk purchase of anonymous cards for resale. Charge-back disputes inflate program costs and erode small-merchant appetite to accept stored value. Money-laundering fears prompt some regulators to cap transaction size, dampening higher-ticket corporate gift use cases. While machine-learning fraud tools help, false positives can reduce approval rates, undermining user experience.

Fragmented consumer-protection / e-money regulation

Compliance requirements differ markedly between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, forcing multijurisdictional issuers to maintain parallel licensing and reporting structures. Some regulators enforce strict dormancy timelines or impose redemption caps, squeezing breakage revenue. Absence of a regional PSD2-style framework denies operators scale efficiencies in legal structuring. The uncertainty complicates innovation, particularly for crypto-linked or cross-border products that lack clear classification. Consequently, market entrants often limit launches to single countries, slowing broader penetration.

Segment Analysis

By Consumer Type: Corporate SMEs Drive Fastest Expansion

The corporate segment generated 61.67% of value in 2024, yet its 14.87% CAGR positions it as the most dynamic contributor to the Middle East gift card market. SMEs gravitate toward prepaid rewards because they simplify multi-national payroll obligations and minimize petty-cash leakages. API connectors from issuers such as NymCard integrate seamlessly with HR software, enabling click-through issuance and spend reconciliation. Merit Incentives’ bank-partnership model processed millions in employee rewards across 5,000 brands in 2025, highlighting scale potential. Tax advantages in several GCC jurisdictions, where modest prepaid limits remain exempt from income levies, further encourage substitution of cash bonuses with digital cards.

Growing platform interoperability fosters use beyond staff perks into channel incentives, reseller commissions, and customer-loyalty schemes. Real-time analytics provide SMEs with redemption insights that guide campaign fine-tuning. As government diversification schemes unlock credit lines for small businesses, the addressable user base for corporate gift solutions expands, reinforcing the trajectory of the Middle East gift card market.

By Distribution Channel: Online Dominance Accelerates

Online outlets accounted for 79.44% of the Middle East gift card market size in 2024 and are projected to retain leadership by growing at a 19.36% CAGR. Mobile-optimized web stores, super-app integrations, and social-media gifting modules deliver frictionless discovery and redemption. Qatar’s Fawran instant-payment rail, capable of sub-10-second transfers, exemplifies infrastructure that supports immediate card delivery and activation. Super-apps such as Careem bundle ride-hailing, food delivery, and stored value, exposing millions of daily users to one-click gift options.

Offline retail still serves non-digital natives and shoppers in non-GCC markets. Hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait maintain kiosk-based issuance for shoppers topping up telecom or gaming cards. However, even brick-and-mortar chains increasingly drive customers online by offering QR codes at checkout that load digital cards into wallets, sustaining migration to e-channels and enlarging the Middle East gift card market.

By Product Type: E-gift Cards Sustain Premium Growth

E-gift cards captured 67.33% revenue in 2024 and continue to expand at a 19.87% CAGR, outperforming physical formats. Instant delivery, personalization, and zero replacement costs underpin consumer appeal. In addition, real-time APIs allow dynamic denomination, partial redemption, and cross-border use, features that physical cards cannot emulate. Sharia-compliant e-gift solutions from Emirates Islamic Bank open new demographics while satisfying religious guidelines.

Physical cards persist in prestige gifting and in geographies where smartphone penetration lags. Mall operators such as Majid Al Futtaim offer hybrid programs in which a plastic card can be mirrored as a wallet token, merging physical and digital convenience. Bulk physical issuance also supports corporate events requiring tangible giveaways, though its share of the Middle East gift card market is forecast to decline gradually.

Geography Analysis

Saudi Arabia, contributing 43.87% to the 2024 market value, is projected to achieve a strong CAGR of 14.98%. This growth is primarily attributed to substantial investments in infrastructure development and the widespread implementation of Mada terminals, which are enhancing the country's payment ecosystem and driving market expansion. SAMA’s supportive regulation mandates transparent fee structures and strengthens consumer rights, propelling uptake among unbanked populations that leapfrog to prepaid instruments. 

The United Arab Emirates ranks second, leveraging DIFC and ADGM sandboxes to incubate fintech propositions. Digital wallets are expected to become the primary e-commerce payment method by 2027, creating fertile ground for virtual-card issuance. Tourists and expatriates appreciate multi-currency support and duty-free tie-ins that e-gift cards facilitate. High smartphone penetration and proactive cybersecurity frameworks enhance trust, keeping the Middle East gift card market vibrant.

Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman together contribute a growing, though smaller, slice. Qatar National Bank’s August 2025 launch of unified wallet acceptance via Mastercard Gateway underscores the country’s payment-innovation push ZAWYA.COM. Kuwait’s Open Banking roadmap and Bahrain’s Cloud-First policy attract fintech collaborations. Oman’s Inclusion Strategy targets 92% banked population by 2028, likely raising prepaid adoption. Non-GCC countries trail because of cash culture and regulatory ambiguity, yet remittance-driven gifting suggests latent potential once interoperable mobile wallets scale regionwide.