In store and online
Most cards here work both ways — at the till and at the online checkout, including for grocery orders and pickup. That is a wider reach than many retail cards manage, and it is worth telling the recipient, because plenty of people assume a card is shop-only and never try it online.
The carve-outs
Large stores sell regulated goods, and gift balance is commonly fenced off from them:
- Alcohol and tobacco, where local rules restrict it.
- Lottery tickets, stamps and money-transfer services.
- Prescription items in some cases.
- Other gift cards, always.
- Fuel at an attached forecourt, where that is run as a separate business.
None of that is the shop being awkward — most of it is regulation. It does mean a card is not quite a cash substitute.
Marketplace items
The website lists stock from third-party sellers alongside its own. As elsewhere, gift balance often cannot pay for the third-party listings. The "sold by" line on the product page is the tell.
Why it works as a gift
It covers food, household basics, clothes and electronics in one place. For a household under pressure it is directly useful in a way a fashion or gaming card is not, and it gets spent within the week rather than sitting in a drawer.
There is more on that angle in grocery gift cards and on the retail side in the shopping guide.
Asking for one
Tell us the country and the amount, and say whether it is meant for online grocery orders — that is the one use worth confirming up front.