Banking and Gift card technology
Magnetic stripe cards are the most common type of gift card. Mag stripes work with most credit card terminals and can be used on any PC by adding a card reader.

For franchise businesses with multiple locations, you can use smart card technology that stores the account information into an embedded computer chip instead of a central database. Smart cards require special card readers that are quite expensive. A lack of current standards and infrastructure support make smart cards a less than ideal option for most gift card systems.