Starbucks gift card: our Expert Opinion

With over 40,000 stores across more than 80 countries and over $36 billion in revenue in 2024, Starbucks has become far more than a coffee chain. It is a cultural brand, an operating model and one of the most powerful retail ecosystems in the world.

Its growth is driven by a balanced mix of company-owned stores, licensed operations and joint ventures, under a clear strategic principle: maintain a strong global identity while adapting formats and experiences to local consumer behaviour. From North America, with nearly 17,000 stores, to Asia and Europe, Starbucks has built a premium experience that goes well beyond the product itself.

Four marketing pillars underpin this success:

• A near-luxury positioning that elevates the perceived value of coffee
• Emotional personalisation as a global signature
• The concept of the “third place”, designed as a refuge from everyday life
• A powerful brand culture, driven by an engaged community and highly effective seasonal marketing

But Starbucks is also a benchmark for another reason: it is one of the world’s pioneers of branded currency. Its gift card program goes far beyond being a payment method. It fuels customer acquisition, loyalty and purchase frequency, while generating significant upfront cash flow.

This is what makes Starbucks such a compelling case for retail and e-commerce leaders: the gift card is the entry point into one of the most advanced loyalty ecosystems in the market.

In this article, we will examine:

• Starbucks’ gift card program
• The strategic levers it activates
• The missed opportunities
• And the branded currency engine that ties everything together

And along the way… one unexpected insight emerged while preparing this episode.

Let’s take a closer look.

To listen to the audio version, click here.

Starbucks Rewards: the engine of a “habit economy”

Starbucks has built its growth model around a simple but powerful objective: turn visits into habits.
The Starbucks® Rewards program sits at the heart of this strategy. It drives repeat behaviour, deepens emotional attachment to the brand, and creates the conditions for a branded currency ecosystem in which loyalty, prepaid value and gift cards work together.

A loyalty system designed for repeat behaviour

The mechanics are intentionally simple. Every purchase earns Stars (in France, €1 = 10 Stars), which can be redeemed for drinks, food or benefits.

The program is built on three behavioural levers:

• Progression through tiers (Green → Gold)
• Frequent rewards (targeted offers, bonuses, free drinks)
• Time pressure (Stars expire after two years, rewards are time-limited)

Together, these create a natural loop of return, consumption and reward.

Joining is frictionless via the mobile app: a digital card is instantly created and can be linked to physical cards. All cards feed into a single account, making the experience seamless and even allowing multiple users to share the same balance.

The Starbucks Card: prepaid as a loyalty accelerator

The Starbucks Card operates as a prepaid payment instrument, accepted across participating stores.

In France:

• Minimum load: €5
• Maximum balance: €150
• Top-ups capped at €150 over 30 days
• No activation or inactivity fees

Preloading creates immediate commitment: once money is loaded, it is mentally and practically earmarked for Starbucks. In several European markets, balances can even be refunded on request, further reinforcing trust.

Automatic reload adds another powerful layer. Customers ensure they never run out of balance while Starbucks secures a predictable, recurring prepaid cash flow.

Where Starbucks truly differentiates: payment meets loyalty

This is the strategic heart of the model.

To maximise Stars, customers are encouraged to pay using their prepaid Starbucks Card. In effect, they fund Starbucks before they consume.

This generates three structural advantages:

1. A faster, smoother checkout experience
2. A dedicated Starbucks spending budget, replenished regularly
3. Substantial upfront cash flow, whereas traditional loyalty programs only generate value after the transaction

Once linked to a Rewards account, the card becomes:

• a payment method,
• a gateway to benefits,
• a carrier for personalised offers,
• and a marketing asset (collections, gifting, co-branding)

For Starbucks, this creates a direct growth engine: higher visit frequency, larger baskets, prepaid value and stronger customer relationships.

This tight integration between prepaid and loyalty is what transforms the system into a true branded currency, an internal form of money that structures the entire Starbucks customer journey, from the moment €20 is loaded to the moment it is spent on the next visit.

How the gift card fits into the Starbucks ecosystem and loyalty strategy

1. A prepaid gift card designed as a “full-drain” product

The Starbucks gift card is a prepaid store credit, valid exclusively within the Starbucks network. It is available across all major Starbucks markets (US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, etc.) and operates on a largely unified functional base:

• No expiry, no activation or dormancy fees
• Usable across multiple countries, with automatic currency conversion at no extra cost
• Represented in the app as a digital card linked to the user’s account
• Top-ups only available once registered in Starbucks Rewards
• Loyalty programs remain country-specific (cards can be used abroad, but Stars are earned locally)

What truly differentiates Starbucks is not these features, but the economic design of the card.

Starbucks gift cards are built as full-drain gift cards, unlike the transactional gift cards commonly used in Europe.

In practice, this means:

• the card is designed to be spent in a single transaction,
• there is no remaining balance,
• and a top-up payment is required if the basket exceeds the card value.

While unusual in France, this format fits Starbucks’ consumption patterns perfectly: low ticket sizes, average baskets close to typical card denominations, and a strong need for simplicity for occasional gift recipients.

2. A gateway to the wallet and loyalty engine: the real power of the model

Starbucks uses the full-drain format for one strategic reason:
to encourage recipients to move their gift card into the Starbucks app, inside the Starbucks Wallet, the prepaid account connected to Starbucks Rewards.

This creates two powerful effects.

a) For new customers: instant entry into the ecosystem

When a gift card is registered in the app:

• a digital card is created automatically,
• Starbucks Rewards is activated,
• the customer enters the prepaid environment,
• and Stars, offers and challenges are immediately unlocked.

The gift card therefore becomes a customer acquisition engine, transforming a one-off gift into a fully engaged, loyal user.

b) For existing customers: automatic budget expansion

When the gift card is transferred into the prepaid balance:

• the total stored value increases,
• the likelihood of impulse purchases rises,
• the average basket grows,
• and customers are more inclined to try premium or seasonal products (signature drinks, limited editions, food).

In short, the Starbucks gift card is not simply a gifting product.
It is a gateway into prepaid value, which in turn forms the backbone of Starbucks’ loyalty and branded currency strategy.

It is this tight integration between gift cards, wallet and rewards that allows Starbucks to convert gifting into long-term customer value, higher spend and predictable cash flow.

Starbucks’ Branded Currency strategy

While gift cards and prepaid cards are the most visible pillars of the Starbucks model, their true power only becomes apparent when you look at how the brand has built a fully integrated internal currency, combining prepaid value, loyalty and mobile experience. Over time, Starbucks has created one of the most sophisticated proprietary payment ecosystems in global retail.

1. Laying the foundations of a proprietary payment system

Since the early 2000s, Starbucks has deliberately transformed payments into a strategic growth lever:

• 2001: launch of the reloadable prepaid Starbucks Card, with no expiry
• 2009: integration of Starbucks Rewards into the app, introducing Stars
• 2015: large-scale roll-out of mobile payment and mobile ordering

This gradual convergence of payment, rewards and mobile turned a simple prepaid card into a fully-fledged Starbucks wallet, embedded directly into the customer experience.

By 2021, the model had reached a critical milestone:

• 43% of total revenue flowed through the gift card and prepaid ecosystem
• more than $1.6 billion was held in customer wallets
• breakage alone exceeded $150 million

Starbucks no longer simply sells coffee.
It operates a vast, customer-funded financial ecosystem.

2. An internal economy that strengthens every interaction

At the heart of the system sits a simple but powerful loop:

Load → Pay → Earn → Reload

This cycle is powered by four reinforcing mechanisms.

a) Prepaid as an engagement engine

Money loaded into the Starbucks app, whether via top-up, gift card or auto-reload, becomes a mentally allocated Starbucks budget.
Spending feels easier, more natural and often more frequent.

b) Rewards aligned with profitable behaviour

Paying with prepaid balance earns more Stars than paying with cash or a bank card.
Starbucks consistently nudges customers to use its own internal currency rather than external payment methods.

c) An experience that locks in habit

Instant payments, frictionless mobile ordering and a highly polished app create a powerful platform effect.
The more customers use it, the harder it becomes psychologically to step outside the Starbucks ecosystem.

The result: everyday transactions become a daily ritual.

d) Gifting as a built-in growth engine

Physical and digital gift cards extend the ecosystem into life moments: Christmas, birthdays, thank-yous and small gestures.
Each gifted card becomes a new entry point into the prepaid loop, continuously feeding the system.

The impact is significant: Rewards members spend 2.5 to 3 times more than non-members, represent up to 57% of US revenue, and are among Starbucks’ most frequent and loyal customers.

3. How a brand starts to behave like a bank

Loading $20 into the Starbucks app is not a trivial act.
It is a voluntary deposit made with a brand, not with a financial institution.

The system rests on three pillars:

• Trust – customers are comfortable holding money with Starbucks
• Convenience – the app is easier than using a bank card
• Rewards – perceived value is higher when using the wallet

For Starbucks, the benefits are substantial:

• predictable, upfront cash flow,
• stronger customer loyalty,
• rich behavioural data,
• and a business model partially funded before consumption even takes place.

The app has become a true transactional infrastructure, with nearly 40 million active members and a growing share of orders processed through Mobile Order & Pay.

Starbucks no longer just delivers a coffee experience, it operates a closed, optimised and self-reinforcing payment system.

4. A vision of branded currency that goes beyond Starbucks’ own walls

As early as 2013, Howard Schultz envisioned Stars as a universal currency that could be used with other brands.
The idea was to allow partners to purchase Stars for their own loyalty programs, creating an interoperable reward economy.

That vision never fully materialised, largely due to infrastructure constraints.

Today, however, blockchain technologies, with their promise of convertibility, interoperability and transparency, make this model far more realistic.

In that scenario, Starbucks could evolve into a broader monetary platform, where Stars circulate beyond its own network.

5. What brands can learn to build their own branded currency

Starbucks didn’t simply optimise a loyalty program.
It built a closed economic system in which payments, balance, rewards and gifting all reinforce one another.

For brands looking to replicate this model, five core principles stand out:

1. Build your own wallet
A closed space where customers load, spend and track their value.
Without a wallet, there is no branded currency.

2. Make payment easier than using a bank card
Frictionless experiences drive adoption.
Your wallet must be faster, simpler and more rewarding than traditional payment methods.

3. Reward the behaviours that serve your business model
Give more benefits when customers use your wallet, your direct channels and your preferred order flows.

4. Make money “invisible”
Prepaid balances, auto-reload and stored value.
A euro already loaded is a euro almost spent.

5. Integrate gifting into the engine
Every gifted credit or gift card becomes a new entry point into your ecosystem.

Gift card visibility: strong demand, but no product in France

Starbucks gift cards are no longer available in France

Let’s now look more closely at the gift card offer itself and its visibility.

Google search volumes around Starbucks gift cards are particularly telling:

• United States: close to 9 million searches in December, then around 1 million per month for the rest of the year
• Canada: up to 500,000 searches in December, around 100,000 outside the peak season
• United Kingdom: 320,000 searches in December, 60,000 off-season, even though digital gift cards, are no longer sold there and physical cards are hard to find
• France: 5,000 searches in December, 2,000 the rest of the year, despite the fact that Starbucks gift cards are no longer available at all, neither digital nor physical

One conclusion is clear: purchase intent remains strong, even in markets where Starbucks no longer actively offers gift cards.

In France, the paradox is even more striking:

• more than 50 new store openings per year,
• a network that could double within five years,
• around 270 active locations,
• and no consumer gift card offering whatsoever.

The direct consequences are obvious:

• no gifting,
• no indirect brand activation,
• no additional prepaid value,
• and a clear revenue opportunity left on the table, especially when compared with the US model, where gift cards are a major growth driver.

For a fast-expanding retail network, not offering gift cards means giving up a critical growth lever for acquisition, recommendation and loyalty.

Why did Starbucks discontinue B2C gift cards in France and Northern Europe?

In November 2018, Starbucks signed a strategic licensing agreement with Alsea, its long-standing partner in Latin America, to take over operations in several European markets:

• France
• Belgium
• The Netherlands
• Luxembourg

This move was part of a broader restructuring:

• Streamlining European operations
• Refocusing on priority markets, notably the United States and China
• Shifting parts of Europe to a licensing model after direct operations underperformed

What this means for gift cards

In these markets, operations are now run by Alsea entities (such as Café Sirène France). This implies:

• Local issuance of prepaid cards
• Local responsibility for activation, top-ups, compliance and customer support
• A technical and conceptual framework set by Starbucks Corporation, but implemented locally
• Higher complexity when launching or evolving a B2C gift card offer

In other words, execution now sits with the licensee, while the global architecture remains with Starbucks.

This hybrid model can slow down, complicate or delay the deployment of a B2C gift card program that meets Starbucks’ international standards  even when consumer demand is clearly there.

Gift card visibility and purchase journey on the website

On the US and Canadian websites, Starbucks gift cards benefit from excellent visibility:
they appear in the main navigation, in the footer and through banners on the homepage.

Discoverability is well managed.

The purchase journey is single-page, clear and frictionless.
Visual assets are regularly refreshed (seasonal designs and collaborations) which reinforces the emotional appeal of the product.

Key features include:

• Denominations: $5 to $100
• Multi-recipient sending: up to 10 recipients per purchase
  (useful, although still limited in personalisation, same amount, message and visual for all)
• A clearly integrated gift card scam warning
• Guest checkout, which reduces friction and abandonment
• A postal address requirement to secure multi-recipient orders

At present, however, payment is limited to bank cards only.
For a brand of this scale, the absence of:

• PayPal
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay

is a direct conversion barrier. Consumers have strong payment preferences, and not supporting them inevitably leads to lost sales.

Another missed opportunity: Starbucks also sells physical gift cards in-store in the US and Canada.
The website should highlight this directly on the digital purchase page, for example, with a “Prefer a physical card?” callout linking to a store locator.

This is a standard best practice in gifting, improving customer experience and preventing drop-off driven by a preference for physical products.

As far as the B2C journey is concerned, our analysis stops here: from France, it is not possible to test purchase, delivery or redemption.
We therefore move on to the professional side of the ecosystem: B2B and B2B2C.

Direct B2B: huge potential, but a model that remains too manual

Starbucks France does offer a direct B2B service for companies wishing to purchase gift cards via its website. Strategically, this makes perfect sense: with a high-profile brand, a rapidly expanding national footprint, and a universal use case (coffee, food, everyday moments), Starbucks gift cards are ideally suited for employee rewards, incentives, marketing campaigns and commercial promotions.

However, the current set-up relies on a simple contact form, which implies a largely manual process from order creation and invoicing to fulfilment and delivery. This naturally limits scalability: as volumes grow, headcount must grow with them, rather than efficiency improving.

By contrast, the North American model shows what is possible when the channel is fully industrialised.

In the United States and Canada, Starbucks operates a self-service B2B portal that allows companies to purchase:

• bulk gift cards,
• in digital, physical or co-branded formats (with the company’s logo),
• autonomously,
• and often at promotional pricing (for example during Cyber Monday).

The service is easy to find, fully integrated into the website (menu and footer), and secured through business verification.

This level of maturity also enables active commercial animation  LinkedIn Ads, paid search and seasonal promotions) to drive demand throughout the year.

For France, the opportunity is clear:
digitising the B2B channel would unlock new volumes, significantly reduce operational workload, and align Starbucks with the standards of the most advanced markets.

B2B2C: a core growth channel in North America, completely untapped in Europe

In the United States and Canada, Starbucks operates a highly mature B2B2C distribution strategy. Its gift cards are widely available through mass retail and major third-party resellers. They are sold on platforms such as Target, Amazon and Prezzee, alongside other popular gift cards like Roblox, Netflix and Nintendo.

The logic is simple: be present where consumers already buy gift cards.

This strategy allows Starbucks to maximise visibility, capture impulse purchases and be available both online and in-store, across high-traffic distribution channels.

What the North American model delivers

• Immediate visibility on mass-market platforms
• Significant incremental volume through a diversified reseller network
• Strong presence during key trading periods (Christmas, holidays, back-to-school)
• The ability to run structured commercial campaigns (for example Cyber Monday discounts)

The trade-offs to manage

• High commissions
• Brand dilution risks if distribution is not tightly controlled
• Limited access to end-customer data
• Direct competition with other gift cards on the same shelves

A deliberate choice: protecting Rewards & Incentives

Based on our observations, Starbucks appears to ring-fence employee rewards and incentive use cases within a direct B2B model, rather than distributing them through employee benefit platforms.

The rationale is consistent:

• protect margins,
• maintain direct corporate relationships,
• control brand image and card usage.

Europe: a striking absence of B2B2C

By contrast, in Europe, Starbucks does not activate any B2B2C distribution channels: no POSA, no marketplaces, no employee benefit platforms.

This is a surprising choice in a market such as France, where gift cards are primarily a B2B-driven product.

A few figures illustrate this clearly:

• nearly two thirds of gift card volume comes from B2B and works councils,
• around 68% of flows go through platforms such as Edenred, Swile, Pluxee and Up,
• employee benefits represent almost €20 billion, with €196 per employee tax-free.

In this context, B2B2C is not an optional channel, it is the main engine of a high-performing gift card program.

For a high-awareness brand in full expansion like Starbucks, staying out of this channel means leaving an entire growth engine untapped.

Our recommendation

Open Starbucks gift cards to POSA distribution and employee benefit platforms in order to:

• capture the true volume of the French market,
• activate prepaid at scale,
• and embed Starbucks into everyday gifting and employee reward habits.

 Gift cards: a powerful marketing lever far beyond gifting

Starbucks uses gift cards as a true marketing engine, not just as a gifting product. Whether in France, the United States or Canada, gift cards are deployed to activate, convert, retain and amplify its branded currency strategy.

The Starbucks playbook: BOGO, seasonality and mass activation

“Buy One, Get One” campaigns run several times a year.
A typical example:
Buy €25, get €5 free.

This format serves three strategic goals:

• stimulate self-purchase,
• encourage gifting,
• and create urgency and social amplification.

In the US and Canada, Starbucks also uses seasonality, especially the holiday season, to launch themed gift cards. Designs are refreshed frequently, often as collectibles or brand collaborations. The result: higher sales, stronger gift positioning and increased footfall in stores.

France: a particularly smart marketing mechanic

In France, Starbucks also sells its products through mass retail (Nespresso capsules, Dolce Gusto, coffee beans, etc.). The brand has cleverly used gift cards to bridge two worlds:

• grocery retail,
• and Starbucks coffee shops.

A recent campaign illustrates this well.

From 1 October to 31 December 2025, consumers could:

1. Purchase four Starbucks products in grocery stores (capsules, beans, etc.)
2. Choose between a physical gift card or a €10 promo code
3. Upload their proof of purchase via a form
4. Receive a Starbucks gift card redeemable in-store or via the Rewards app

This mechanic delivers several strategic benefits:

• turning a grocery purchase into a first café visit,
• creating a new consumption habit,
• capturing prepaid value,
• and feeding the Rewards ecosystem.

In other words, the gift card acts as a bridge between two ecosystems, becoming a powerful omnichannel acquisition tool.

Conclusion and recommendations

Starbucks demonstrates better than almost any other retailer how a brand can turn a simple payment method into a powerful growth engine. In the United States and Canada, gift cards, prepaid balances and the Rewards program are not standalone products, they form a coherent branded currency system that generates upfront cash flow, strengthens customer loyalty and mechanically increases purchase frequency.

In France and across Europe, however, Starbucks is currently capturing only a fraction of this potential. The absence of a B2C gift card, the lack of B2B2C activation, and the absence of connections to employee benefit platforms are all structural brakes on the model, even as the brand accelerates store openings and benefits from exceptional brand awareness.

And yet, all the ingredients are in place:

• a rapidly expanding store network,
• a highly recognisable premium brand,
• a young, mobile and digital-native customer base,
• a coffee consumption model built around daily rituals,
• and a French market where B2B and employee benefits account for over two thirds of gift card volumes.

Reintroducing a B2C gift card (digital and physical) would already be a powerful lever for recommendation, organic acquisition and entry into the prepaid loop.
Automating direct B2B would enable Starbucks to scale without heavy operational costs.
And opening up distribution through B2B2C partners and employee benefit platforms would allow Starbucks to tap into a €20 billion market.

Ultimately, the question is not whether Starbucks can replicate its North American success in Europe.

The real question is: why leave that growth on the table?

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