You might be familiar with purchasing Google Play gift cards on e-commerce platforms like Amazon. Now, Google itself has turned Google Play into a place where you can buy digital gift cards from leading brands and send them to your friends and family without leaving the app.
Gift cards are popular gift options during the holiday season, but these virtual items can also become a tool for scammers to target unsuspecting users online. People have lost hundreds of millions of dollars to scammers who resort to social engineering, scaring people, and using web crawler bots to scrape gift card information.
It"s always recommended to stay away from unknown, shady platforms and never share a gift card number. The new gift cards section on Google Play offers an official, if not fool-proof, way to buy gift cards safely, alongside other trusted platforms.
9to5Google spotted a new "Gift cards" store on the Google Play Android app, sandwiched between the "Payments & subscriptions" and "Play Protect" options that appear when you tap on your profile icon. You can find gift cards for various categories, including Beauty, Dining, Entertainment, Fashion, Retail, Home, Travel, and Electronics.
Google displays a horizontally swipeable carousel of gift cards at the top of the screen, highlighting the "Top brands." Of course, the carousel features the Google Play gift card with values ranging from $15 to $100.
You can select one of the gift cards, enter the recipient"s email address, and type a personalized gift message with your name. Depending on the gift card, you can pick from the virtual design options provided during the process.
The person on the other end can redeem your gift card by clicking on a link in an email or text message. If you can"t see the feature on your device yet, it may arrive at a later time as part of the rollout.
"Bringing digital gift cards into the Play Store means users can now discover, purchase and send value without jumping between apps or sites, offering a straightforward way for brands to connect with them in a trusted environment," said Fernanda Murphy, who is Google Play"s Global Head of Retail & Payments Marketing.
Google Play has more than 2.5 billion monthly users spread across over 190 markets globally, making it a lucrative platform for retailers and brands. The search giant has partnered with the branded payment solutions provider BlackHawk Network to sell gift cards on Google Play.
BlackHawk notes that the global demand for digital gift cards is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2032. Gift cards on Google Play will surface "across search, key in-app placements and personalized promotions, including curated deals that spotlight premier brands."
The new gift cards section adds to the stream of updates Google recently pushed for Google Play, including a major personalization update and Play Points perks. The company is also tightening its grip on shady apps and will make it compulsory for all Android apps to come from verified sources.