Daily Bangla Times :At one time, gift cards were one of the ways to express your feelings or wish your loved ones. On Valentine's Day, its demand would increase several times.

Besides, the demand of this medium to express emotions was high on special days like birthday, Eid, New Year. But they seem to have taken place only in the pages of memory. The appeal of this once popular gift item is gone.

Today, February 14 (Tuesday) is World Valentine's Day. Around this special day, on Monday (February 13), the gift shops of the capital were crowded with buyers. Various shopping malls and market stalls can be seen on the surface, buyers are buying different types of gifts to please their loved ones. However, gift cards were at the very bottom of their demand.

Talking to buyers and sellers, it is known that the circulation of gift cards has decreased due to modern technology. Most people now wish their loved ones by sending short messages on mobile phones. Modern technology like WhatsApp, Messenger is used to talk to the people you love. Even many of the present young generation do not know about the gift card culture. So day by day the passion of gift cards is decreasing, losing appeal.

An Archies Gallery of Shoppers' Top Picks for Gifts On Monday evening, going to the showroom of Archies Gallery in Zigatla's border square in the capital, it was seen that there was no room for the crowd of customers to step into the store. On Valentine's Day, some people buy dolls, some show-pieces, some watches to give as gifts to loved ones or loved ones. Although numerous gift cards are arranged right in the middle of the store, most of the customers are not interested in that. Many buyers shake the arranged cards but buy only a handful.

The owner of this showroom of Archie's Gallery. Kamal told BanglaNews that earlier their store sold 10 gift cards per day, now only one. Some days it doesn't even happen. Earlier, on the day before Valentine's Day, at least 50 more gift cards were sold. And today (Monday) only 10 have been sold.

He said, there is no demand for gift cards like before. On the special day, everyone wishes their loved ones on Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp. So less sales. Due to reduced sales, we have also reduced the import of this gift item. Earlier, 200 to 300 cartoon gift cards were imported per lot from Delhi, India for Archies Gallery. Now only 50 to 60 cartoons are made.

Gift cards are available from 150 taka to 6 thousand taka at Archies Gallery. Kamal

This reporter of Banglanews talked to businessman Golam Mostafa in this shop. Golam Mustafa came to buy gift cards and gifts for loved ones on the occasion of Valentine's Day.

He told BanglaNews that now people are restless, they don't have time to buy and give gift cards. They settle the responsibility by greeting their loved ones through SMS on the phone. But they do not understand that there is a loving, touching thing in the gift card. Also, vendors do not introduce new cards due to lack of demand. Because of which the cards are no longer as different as before.

He also said that earlier mobile phones were not in hand. So gift cards were one of the ways to give gifts or greetings to loved ones. Now the world is modern. New technology has arrived. Due to which the gift card application is also lost. But this culture needs to be maintained.  

Hallmark is another popular brand for selling gift items. The owner of Bashundhara shopping mall branch of this brand. Rinku told BanglaNews that earlier, buying cards on Valentine's Day used to be frowned upon. And now there are no buyers. Basically the people of the 90s were the buyers of this gift. It has no appeal to the new generation. Still, some people come for gift cards. We keep gift cards for them.

Mehdi Hasan, a salesperson at Bashundhara branch in Arang, said the same thing. He told BanglaNews that the number of cards here is very low because there is no demand. Now people don't give much wishes through gift cards. Our production of gift cards is also low due to lack of demand. People now give gift vouchers to loved ones instead of gift cards. We have gift vouchers from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 here. With which any product can be purchased from any of our showrooms.

Mutual Trust Bank employee Naima came to buy gift card at Bashundhara branch of Hallmark. He told BanglaNews that in our era, gift cards were the only means of greeting loved ones. I used to buy gift cards to wish someone on their birthday. I used to give gift cards to each other on Eid. Gift cards were also a medium to express love to loved ones. The present generation does not understand this. They now send greetings virtually. Those of us in the 90s still haven't run out of gift card appeals. So I bought gift cards to wish my loved ones with gifts on Valentine's Day.

Hasan Nitol, a researcher at Dhaka University, said that there was a time when it was customary to give greeting cards, but now it has lost its place due to the modern technology. But its appeal still exists as before.