9 gift cards people love that you haven't thought of for your incentive program
By Mindy Woodall●4 min. read●Oct 26, 2026
Many U.S. incentive programs default to the same handful of gift cards every time: Amazon.com, Starbucks, maybe Target or Walmart. And there's nothing wrong with those options: According to our redemption data, they’re the top-picked choices even when people have numerous gift card brands to choose from.
But if you want to differentiate your incentive program and offer rewards that feel a little more unique that people still love, reach beyond the default picks to offer gift cards that people can’t get from every other program out there.
The good news is you don't have to guess what those gift cards are. We analyzed the past two years of U.S. gift card redemptions through Tremendous and selected 9 options that consistently rank in the top 50 that you may not have considered including in your incentive program.
Key takeaways
To stand out, pair staple gift cards like Amazon.com and Starbucks with gift cards people already love but rarely see in reward programs.
Several practical picks cover rising everyday costs: Kroger and Sam’s Club for groceries and bulk shopping, Chevron and Texaco for gas, CVS for pharmacy and household basics.
Others feel more like a treat: Google Play, Roblox, and Razer Gold for gamers and younger recipients, Airbnb for travel, Chewy for the 95 million U.S. pet-owning households.
No single card works for everyone. A reward platform that lets each recipient choose their own gift card (or cash, a prepaid card, or a donation) solves the guessing problem without the inventory headache.
1. Google Play
A Google Play card covers a huge range of digital items including apps, games, movies, books, and subscriptions, and it works for anyone with an Android device or Google account. Considering Android accounted for 49% of U.S. smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2026, that’s a big pool of people.
One appeal of a Google Play gift card is that it pays for things people already buy every month, like streaming subscriptions or in-game purchases. It's a safe pick for a broad audience and an especially good one for younger recipients.
2. Kroger
Groceries are one of the most practical rewards out there, especially since they keep getting more expensive. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports grocery prices rose 1.8% over the 12 months ending September 2026, so a card that covers a grocery run has real value for consumers.
A Kroger card also goes further than the name suggests, since it works at Fred Meyer, Ralphs, King Soopers, Harris Teeter, and the rest of the Kroger family of stores. Across all of these brands, Kroger operates roughly 2,700 stores in 35 states, so a gift card is useful for a large share of U.S. recipients.
3. Sam's Club
Sam's Club is a division of Walmart and has more than 600 clubs across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. A lot of people shop here to buy in bulk and save money on practical essentials.
Buying in bulk has become a standard way for households to manage higher prices, and the clubs are growing because of it: CNBC reported Sam's Club e-commerce sales were up 26% in Q2 2026. A basic membership now runs $60 a year, so even a modest gift card can help cover the cost of getting in the door.
4. Chevron and Texaco
Gas is a regular expense for most U.S. households, and a fuel card is one of the few rewards nearly everyone can use within days of receiving it. It also matters more than it did a year ago: AAA reported a record-setting month at the pump in September 2026, with the average cost hitting $4.33 a gallon.
This gift card option works at both Chevron and Texaco stations, so it's a strong fit for everyone from commuters to field teams, delivery drivers, and anyone else who spends a lot of time on the road.
5. Roblox
A Roblox card buys Robux, the in-game currency players use for avatar items and game passes. The person redeeming it is usually a parent, and the person enjoying it is usually a kid, which makes it a reward the whole household appreciates. If your recipients include families, this is an easy way to make a reward feel like a treat rather than a way to cover bills.
6. Razer Gold
Razer Gold is a universal credit for PC, console, and mobile games, so one card works across many titles rather than locking the recipient into a single platform. Razer says the credit is accepted in more than 34,000 games and apps, including Battle.net.
That flexibility is the appeal: a gamer can put it toward whatever they're playing this month. If your audience skews younger or includes gamers, this is one of the simplest ways to show you know who you're rewarding.
7. CVS
CVS covers prescriptions, over-the-counter medicine, toiletries, and other household items people pick up on the way home. Reach is the main selling point: CVS Health says around 85% of Americans live within 10 miles of a CVS Pharmacy.
This gift card is a low-risk pick because it's useful to almost everyone.
8. Airbnb
Airbnb has become a mainstream choice for finding a place to stay on vacation. In a February 2026 NerdWallet survey, 51% of Americans said they'd rather stay in a vacation rental than a hotel, and that preference climbs to 65% among parents of kids under 18.
Even if your Airbnb gift card doesn’t cover a whole trip, it still feels like a treat to contribute toward an upcoming vacation. That makes Airbnb gift cards a strong fit for milestone rewards or incentives where that feel celebratory.
9. Chewy
Pet owners spend a lot, and they spend constantly. The American Pet Products Association put U.S. pet spending at $158 billion in 2025 across 95 million households that own at least one pet.
As a pet products e-commerce giant, Chewy delivers food, litter, medication, and supplies straight to your door. For the right person, a reward that pays for a bag of dog food or a new toy can feel more personal than a generic Amazon.com gift card.
Expand your gift card offerings with a reward platform
Different people appreciate different types of rewards. A Chevron gift card that’s perfect for someone in Texas will be meaningless to a New Yorker who doesn’t own a car. A Razer Gold card could be a win for a gamer and unused by someone else.
Trying to hand-pick the right gift card for every person in your program means buying, storing, and tracking dozens of different gift cards, and still guessing wrong some of the time.
A reward platform like Tremendous lets recipients choose their own gift card. You send one reward, and each person picks whatever they want most, whether that's one of the choices above, a prepaid card, a bank transfer, or a donation to a charity they care about. Everyone gets what they want with way less fuss.
Methodology
The rankings in this post come from Tremendous' own reward redemption data. We looked at every gift card redeemed by recipients in the U.S. between October 2024 and October 2026 and highlighted options within the top 50 most-redeemed gift cards that seemed like less obvious picks for incentive program managers.
A couple of notes on how the list was built:
The ranking is by number of redemptions, not by dollar value.
Only redemptions by U.S. recipients are included. International storefronts and region-specific cards aren't part of this ranking.
