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4 Trends in Plastic Card CR80 Manufacturing and Innovation

Nearly everyone is familiar with plastic, bank, gift and key cards. However, you might not be up to date on the trends driving innovation within the plastic card CR80 manufacturing industry. From increased security by government agencies to widespread adoption by public transit systems, new areas of growth are diversifying the industry.

Plastic cards have taken the gift card industry by storm over the last decade. Incentive Magazine reports that more than 77% of American consumers have given gift cards in the past year and more than 90% have used at least one. Add to that hotel room key cards, promotional and customer loyalty key tags, membership cards, ID cards, driver’s licenses, and other popular card uses, a very large market begins to emerge.

Four industry specific plastic card manufacturing trends:

Government and Healthcare

The need for secure IDs, driver’s licenses, passports, healthcare access and patient cards is growing year over year. Government and healthcare sectors have a high need for security and privacy. The need for more sophisticated technology to protect card users and integrate card functions is a major drive for innovation moving forward.

Financial and Banks

The global financial card market continues to expand, creating growth driven by dual interface technology and the shift to debit and prepaid cards. New EMV chip card technology is now becoming the standard in many countries. Although mobile payment options are becoming more common, they have a long way to go and many smartphone payment applications require a companion card.

Public Transportation

You may not associate public transportation with plastic cards, but that will change. According to the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) one of the biggest card manufacturing trends is in the public transportation sector. The move from paper based tickets to contactless smart cards is growing in popularity and will likely continue to grow as public transportation systems grow in demand.

Gift Cards

The gift card market is well saturated, but growth continues, especially during holiday seasons. According to Gift Card Granny, American consumers spend over $100 Billion on gift cards annually. Increasing acceptance of gift cards in Asian markets is also driving growth in the plastic gift card market. The volume of gift card usage in Asia increased at an average annual growth rate of 24% during 2010-2015, to 230 million in 2015.

Plastic cards are bringing security, convenience, and reliability to many industries. Their continued popularity in multiple industries will increase innovation, specifically in these four key markets.