I’m sure you’ve bought or received a branded gift card by now. They’re available everywhere, from bookstores to supermarkets to 7-Eleven stores. They’ve pretty much killed off gift certificates.

Until recently, I thought only large retailers offered these cards. In fact, Americans are buying as much as $50 billion a year in single-retailer cards, according to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. But if you’re a smaller retailer, the technology involved represents a huge opportunity to offer your own branded gift cards.

All you need is the ability to process a credit card with a card reader and a gift/loyalty card to activate. These can be purchased through your current credit card processor and can be imprinted with your store name by a supplier such as Intuit.

And it wouldn’t hurt if you had a POS (point of sale) system. A POS will integrate with your card processor, making it one-screen simple to accept or sell a card, and to tell customers their card balances.

As the article says, places like radiator shops aren’t great candidates for branded gift cards. But for everyone else–from florists to boutiques to wine shops–these cards show that you’re part of the trend, that you can compete with the big guys. It’s just a small piece of plastic, but don’t underestimate its power to yield large rewards.