Google Pay Partners With India’s Qwikcilver For Instant Digital Gift Cards

End-to-end gift card platform Qwikcilver has launched its Woohoo virtual gift card store on the Google Pay Spot Platform to enable users in India to buy and send virtual gift cards in real time, the United News of India reported on Monday (Dec. 7).

The collaboration between Google Pay and the Pine Labs company Qwikcilver gives users an expanded choice of digital gift card options, offering some 150 brands in 1,500 physical and online locations.

Kumar Sudarsan, president of gift, prepaid and stored value for Pine Labs, said the partnership is aimed at “easing the entire process” of buying and selling virtual gift cards.

“While Qwikcilver has enabled Woohoo digital gift card store as a preferred destination for consumers, the presence on Google Pay will enhance [the] consumer experience to [enable] digital gifting with a click of a button,” Sudarsan added.

In an October PYMNTS interview, Factor4 CEO Dan Battista said it’s important to streamline things like gift cards and loyalty rewards because this holiday shopping season is going to be the most virtual one ever.

According to a consumer survey by PYMNTS last month, gift card momentum this holiday shopping season is being driven by bridge millennials and Gen-Xers. More than 35 percent of millennials said they planned to buy a gift card; over 34 percent of Gen-Xers said the same.

In an interview with PYMNTS in April, Nift CEO Elery Pfeffer said the firm aims to help local companies use its gift and reward distribution platform to promote and drive business to their stores.

Restaurant gift card sales dropped by more than 30 percent over the Black Friday shopping weekend compared to the same period in 2019. The more upscale the restaurant, the greater the decline.