CNBC
Don’t panic if you miss the window to order a gift for someone during the holidays, or are in a faraway state and don’t want to deal with shipping. It’s easy to give a digital gift card that can save you in a pinch. Many of the popular money transfer services let you send cash to anyone you choose. However, that might not have enough of a personal feel for you. You can use those platforms to send a digital gift card for popular vendors such as Starbucks , Lululemon and Nordstrom . Digital gift cards make up 40% of all gift card purchases, according to a May survey done by Bank of America and The Strawhecker Group, and the top reason people had for buying them was to give the recipient more choice. Electronic gift cards came in handy for me when I wanted to send a birthday gift to a friend who lived in another state. Instead of sending $20 in cash on PayPal -owned Venmo, I sent him a $20 Chipotle gift card through Venmo. Maybe the difference isn’t monumental, but it felt more personal to me. Here’s how to send a digital gift card if you feel the same way. All these steps were done via mobile apps on my iPhone.