The global gift card market is growing strongly according to a survey by Persistence Market Research which predicts that the international market for gift cards is likely to grow to $506 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 6% from $318 billion in 2017. With the expected growth in the industry, it is important to assess what role emerging technologies can play and how they can impact a market with millions of users.

The Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI) launched an online universal gift voucher, redeemable in up to 3000 participating member restaurants and the first known voucher to be powered by Blockchain technology. The platform was a blockchain software development project lead by eosDublin and is powered by Europechain, which offers a level of trust needed to ensure users and their customers’ funds are safe and secure.

The platform is an industry first, utilizing the latest blockchain technology to secure the unique voucher codes to the Europechain Blockchain. Blockchain is a technology which is changing the world, as the world is going digital, blockchain will enable data immutability, security, and transparency.

“The RAI is proud to offer a nationwide restaurant voucher for all participating members. We were excited to hear that the platform was being built using the latest class-leading technology and are happy to be part of this initiative. We look forward to building on our initial success for the years to come “

“Currently it can be difficult for individual restaurants to offer gift vouchers. They can be tricky to track, manage and process,” says Adrian Cummings, chief executive of the RAI. “In addition, when giving a gift of a meal, it is fantastic to offer a choice of restaurant, so your recipient can make the choice of dining.” Adrian Cummins – CEO RAI

The RAI Listings site (voucher.rai.ie) allows users to see participating restaurants by location broken down by province. Vouchers can be purchased online with instant email verification.

The voucher system includes a sales dashboard for members with real-time sales, drill-down monthly reports and an ability to forecast incoming revenue. The system can also be used to track performance, redemption and refund ratios, as well as a breakdown of sales by member.

Adam Bouktila, Enterprise Sales Lead at Europechain and eosDublin Co-Founder, says, “At the moment the system is super easy to use, restaurants can add their logos, have one-click profile creation and also offer individual promotions and offers.” The RAI voucher platform consists of a listing website with a voucher purchase link using Stripe for simple integration of payment processing. The platform is integrated with the Europechain enterprise blockchain to protect against fraud and double-spending. Blockchain technology ensures transparency and immutability – no voucher need ever be lost, or unaccounted for again.