Gift Card Display Ideas for Shops and Salons
The best place to display gift cards is by the till, where every customer stops to pay. Hang a few in euro slot carriers on a hook, or stand them up in a holder, under a sign that says what they buy. Then point people to them at the door, in the window, at the table or chair, on receipts and menus, and online. Only display cards that are worth nothing until they’re sold.
This guide covers where and how to show the cards. For the cards themselves and their prices, see our plastic gift cards, and for more ways to sell them, our guide on how to sell more gift cards.
The short versionHang the cards by the till in euro slot carriers, or stand them up in standard display carriers, under a sign that says what they buy: any amount, set amounts or a named treat. Only display cards that are worth nothing until they’re sold, and record each one at the till. Add a sign at the door and in the window, a line on receipts, menus and your website, and change the carriers and signs for each gifting season.
Where should I display gift cards?
Wherever customers stop, wait or look: by the till first, then at the door, in the window, at the table or chair, on receipts and menus, and online. Each place needs something different, from a few cards on a hook to a single line of text.
What staff say at the till helps too: our guide to selling gift cards at the counter has the words to use as customers pay.
How do I hang gift cards on a hook, spinner or slatwall?
Put each card in a euro slot display carrier: a printed A6 board, 148 x 105mm, with a die cut slot at the top that hangs on a standard retail hook or spinner, and die cut slits that hold the card.
- A counter stand by the till holds a few cards where every customer pays, with room for a sign on top.
- A spinner turns, with hooks on every side, so it holds many designs or amounts in a small space: useful in a bigger shop or a garden centre.
- Slatwall is a wall panel with grooves that take hooks, so the cards hang on the wall by the till or near the door.
We don’t sell stands, spinners or hooks, so get those from a shop display supplier. We supply the printed cards and the carriers that hang on them.
Carriers come unattached, so you slot each card in yourself. They’re printed in full colour on both sides, so the front can sell the card and the back can say how it works.
Can gift cards stand on the counter instead?
Yes. Use standard display carriers: flat printed board, 148 x 105mm (A6), supplied with glue dots to fix the card in place. Stand a few up in a simple counter stand or an A6 leaflet holder by the till or on the reception desk. We don’t sell the stands or holders.
A flat carrier gives you two printed faces: the front sells the card, and the back has room for your terms and how to use it. It’s the same size as the euro slot carrier, so the two sit level with each other if you use both on one display.
It’s also a neat way to hand the card over. Make a few up in advance, so each sale takes seconds. If a card is posted, the carrier needs a C6 envelope.
Which carrier suits which display?
The one made for where it goes: a euro slot carrier to hang, a standard display carrier to stand, a landscape wallet to hand over, and a card sleeve for a bill folder or a pocket.
| Display | Carrier | How it holds the card | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| A hook, spinner or slatwall | Euro slot display carrier | Die cut slits, under a die cut slot for the hook | 148 x 105mm (A6) |
| A counter stand or holder | Standard display carrier | Glue dots, supplied with it | 148 x 105mm (A6), flat |
| Behind the counter, to hand over | Landscape wallet | Die cut slits, inside a folded wallet that takes a handwritten message | 75 x 105mm folded |
| A bill folder, desk or pocket | Card sleeve | A pocket with a thumb notch | 87 x 60mm |
All four are printed in full colour on 350gsm silk board, the sleeve on the outside only. Our page on card carriers and wallets has every format and its prices.
What should a gift card sign say?
What the cards buy, in a few big words, so people can see at a glance whether you sell any amount, set amounts or named treats. Put one sign in the window or on the door, one by the till, and a small one where people choose presents.
- A window poster, big enough to read from outside: “Gift cards, any amount. Ask inside.”
- A door sticker at eye level: “Gift cards sold here”.
- A shelf wobbler, a small sign on a clear strip that sticks out from the shelf edge, beside the presents people browse: “Gift cards at the till”.
Make the value just as easy to read on the display itself:
- “Gift card” in large type, on the card and the carrier, big enough to read at arm’s length on a display stand.
- Any amount. If staff write the amount on a write-on panel when the card is sold, one design covers every amount, and the sign can simply say “Any amount”.
- Set amounts. If you print amounts, such as £10, £25 and £50, hang each one on its own hook and label it. Each printed amount is its own design, with a minimum of 25 cards, so ask us to quote for each.
- Named treats. For a card that buys a named treatment or item, put the price on the sign or a shelf label and leave it off the card: if your price goes up, you still honour the card.
- The back of the carrier has room for how to spend the card and your terms. Use the same words as your website and till, so a customer never finds two versions.
How do I display gift cards safely?
Only put cards on display that are worth nothing until they’re sold and recorded. At the sale, staff note the card’s number in your register, and write in the amount or load it on the till if it isn’t printed. A card taken from the display isn’t recorded as sold, so it can be refused.
- Or hang empty carriers. The printed carrier does the selling, and staff slot a card in at the till.
- Never load a value in advance. A card with money already on it can be spent by whoever takes it.
- Hide any code for spending online. A code printed openly on a card in a display rack is a code anyone can photograph, so it goes under a scratch-off panel.
- Check the panel before you sell a card. If its scratch-off panel has been scratched, don’t sell the card: stop its number on your register.
- Keep open-code cards behind the counter. If staff have to read a card’s code when they sell it, as with gift cards for Shopify POS, a panel can’t hide it, and anyone could copy it from a display.
- Keep a few cards at the till and the rest locked away. Count them now and then, and mark any missing numbers on your register, so staff know to refuse them.
- Number every card, so your register shows which cards were sold and for how much: see keeping track of gift cards.
Our guide on how to stop gift card fraud covers unsold cards and the other risks.
What gift card display suits my business?
The one that sits where your customers stop. These are starting points for six kinds of business: where to show the cards, the display that suits, and one thing worth knowing.
| Business | Where to show them | The display | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shops | By the till, and near the door for people who come in for a present | Euro slot carriers on a counter stand or slatwall by the till | Say on the sign whether the card can be spent online as well as in store. |
| Salons and barbers | At reception, where clients book and pay, and a word at the chair | Euro slot carriers on a small counter stand, or a standard display carrier in a holder | Name your popular treatments on the sign, with their prices, and leave the price off the card. |
| Cafés | By the till and along the counter where people queue | Euro slot carriers on a counter stand by the till | Name the experience, such as afternoon tea for two, rather than the dishes, because menus change. |
| Restaurants and pubs | At the table with the bill, on the menu, and at the bar or front desk | A card in a card sleeve in the bill folder, and standard display carriers at the bar or front desk | Leave prices off the card: if your prices go up, you still honour the card. |
| Hotels | At reception, in the restaurant and in the room information | A standard display carrier in a holder at reception, with cards handed over in card sleeves and posted in landscape wallets | Leave room rates off the card: they change with the season. |
| Garden centres | At every till, and on a spinner by the entrance or the gift shop | Euro slot carriers on a spinner or slatwall | Selling the National Garden Gift Card too? The Horticultural Trades Association, which runs it, suggests promoting it alongside your own cards, and supplies the national scheme’s cards, wallets and point of sale material itself. |
How should I change the display through the year?
Keep gift cards on show all year, because birthdays come every month, and give the display a fresh look before each gifting date. Our guide to selling more gift cards has a calendar of gifting dates and the occasions people buy gift cards for.
- Change the carrier, not the card. Put the season on the carriers and signs, and keep one card design all year: a card that says Christmas is hard to sell in March.
- Give Christmas the most room. Move the display nearer the door, or add a second one. The Gift Card & Voucher Association’s report on the second half of 2023, compiled by KPMG, says sales of physical gift cards always rise around Christmas, because they’re convenient and suit giving as a present.
- Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Change the sign or the carrier a week or two before each one, naming a treat that suits the day.
- Order in good time. Cards take 7 working days from proof approval and payment. Carriers ordered with your cards arrive with them; ordered on their own, we confirm the timing at proofing stage.
Our guide to Christmas gift cards for your business covers the busiest season. Ask us for this year’s last order dates at sales@cpcards.co.uk.
How do I show gift cards online?
Show the real card in its carrier, so people can see what they’d be giving: on a gift card page on your website, in posts before each gifting date, and on a sign at the till with a QR code that opens that page.
Link that page from your home page and main menu, so people find it without searching. Use the same picture and words as your display by the till, so the card looks the same wherever people see it. Our guide on how to sell more gift cards covers selling on your website and social media.
How do I order gift cards and display carriers?
Email sales@cpcards.co.uk or use our gift card quote form. We often reply within minutes, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Tell us:
- How many cards, and how the value works: any amount written in at the till, set amounts or named treats.
- The carriers for your display: euro slot carriers to hang, standard display carriers to stand, and how many of each.
- Your artwork, at 92 x 60mm with 3mm of bleed, or your logo and wording for our £29 +vat design service, which can set up the card and the carrier together. Carrier templates are on our artwork guides page.
We quote the cards and carriers as one job, and the carriers are produced alongside your cards and arrive with them. They’re supplied unattached, so you put the cards in. Carrier colours look a little different from the card’s, because the same colours read slightly warmer on board.
The gift cards are 86 x 54mm and 760 microns thick, printed in England in full colour on both sides, then bonded between clear PVC sheets and cut, so the print can’t scratch or wear off. Every order gets a free email proof, so you can check the layout and wording before anything is printed. The colours on the proof are a guide only, because every screen shows colour differently.
Production takes 7 working days from proof approval and payment. Express takes 3 to 4 working days: ask us for cost and availability. Delivery is free within Great Britain, and our delivery prices list the charges for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands.
Gift cards start at £75.00 +vat for 25, and the price per card falls as the quantity goes up, because much of the work in an order is the same whatever the quantity. Euro slot carriers start at £79.00 +vat for 25. Our gift cards page has the full price table, and card carriers and wallets lists every format’s prices.
Where does this advice come from?
From our own pages on gift cards and carriers, and these outside sources, read in November 2026:
- Gift Card & Voucher Association (GCVA) and KPMG, 2023 H2 Summary Report (February 2024): physical gift cards at Christmas.
- The Horticultural Trades Association: its National Garden Gift Card page for retailers, on promoting the national card alongside your own and the point of sale material it provides, and the scheme rules, on who supplies its materials.
- Our own pages: card carriers and wallets, the gift card printing guide, how to design a gift card, how to stop gift card fraud and gift cards for Shopify POS.
This page is general information, not legal advice.
Questions & Answers
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Where is the best place to display gift cards in a shop?
By the till, where every customer stops to pay. Hang a few cards in euro slot carriers on a hook or counter stand, or stand them up in a holder, with a sign that says what they buy. Then add a sign at the door and in the window, and a line on your receipts and website, so people know before they reach the till.
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How do you hang gift cards on a display?
Put each card in a euro slot display carrier: a printed A6 board, 148 x 105mm, with a die cut slot at the top and die cut slits that hold the card. The slot fits a standard retail hook or spinner, so the carriers can hang from a counter stand by the till, a spinner or a slatwall panel.
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Do you sell gift card display stands?
No. CP Cards supplies the printed gift cards and the carriers that go on a display, and the stand, spinner or hooks come from a shop display supplier. Euro slot carriers hang on a standard retail hook or spinner, and standard display carriers are flat A6 board that stands up in a simple holder.
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Is it safe to put gift cards on display?
Yes, if every card on display is worth nothing until it’s sold and recorded. At the sale, staff note the card’s number in a register, and write in the amount or load it on the till if it isn’t printed, so a card taken from the display can be refused. Keep cards whose code is printed in the open, such as cards for Shopify POS, behind the counter, and spare cards locked away.
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What size are gift card display carriers?
CP Cards’ euro slot and standard display carriers are both 148 x 105mm, which is A6, so they sit level with each other on a display and fit a C6 envelope. The gift card itself is 86 x 54mm. To hand a card over, a landscape wallet folds to 75 x 105mm, and a card sleeve is 87 x 60mm.
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What should a gift card display sign say?
What the cards buy, in a few big words: “Gift cards, any amount” if staff write the amount in at the till, or the names of your most popular treats with their prices. Put a treat’s price on the sign rather than the card: if the price goes up, you still honour the card. A window poster, a door sticker and a sign by the till each need only a few words.
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How should a salon display gift cards?
At reception, where clients book and pay: a few cards in euro slot carriers on a small counter stand, or a standard display carrier in a holder, under a sign naming your most popular treatments. Mention them at the chair as an appointment ends, and keep spare cards locked away until they’re sold.
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When should I change my gift card display?
Before each gifting date: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Keep cards on show all year too, because birthdays come every month. Change the carriers and signs rather than the cards: a card that says Christmas is hard to sell in March, while an all-year card goes into a seasonal carrier.
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Where can I get printed gift cards and display carriers in the UK?
CP Cards supplies plastic gift cards, printed in England, and the carriers to display them in. Our minimum order is 25 cards, from £75.00 +vat. Delivery is free within Great Britain, and our delivery prices list the charges for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands. Every order gets a free email proof, so you can check the layout and wording before anything is printed. For a quote, email sales@cpcards.co.uk or use our quote form.
Ready to put your gift cards on show?
Tell us how many cards you need, how the value works and which carriers suit your display. We’ll quote by email, often within minutes, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.