Business cards are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation (usually with a logo) and contact information such as street addresses, telephone number(s) and/or e-mail addresses. Traditionally many cards were simple black text on white stock; today a professional business card will sometimes include one or more aspects of striking visual design.

Business cards are frequently used during sales calls (visits) to provide potential customers with a means to contact the business or representative of the business.

Business cards evolved from a fusion of traditional trade cards and visiting cards.

Visiting cards (also known as calling cards) first appeared in China in the 15th century, and in Europe in the 17th century. The footmen of aristocrats and of royalty would deliver these first European visiting cards to the servants of their prospective hosts solemnly introducing their arrival.

Visiting cards became an indispensable tool of etiquette, with sophisticated rules governing their use. The aristocracies of North America and the rest of Europe adopted the practice from French and English etiquette.

Visiting cards included refined engraved ornaments and fantastic coats of arms. The visiting cards served as tangible evidence of the meeting of social obligations. The stack of cards in the card tray in the hall was a handy catalog of exactly who had called and whose calls one should reciprocate. They also provided a streamlined letter of introduction.

With the passage of time, visiting cards became an essential accessory to any 19th-century upper or middle class lady or gentleman. Visiting cards were not generally used among country folk or the working classes.

Trade cards first became popular at the beginning of the 17th century in London. These functioned as advertising and also as maps, directing the public to merchants' stores, as no formal street address numbering system existed at the time.

Businesses used their cards as marks of distinction and thus introduced the first modifications in their design. Later, as the growing demand for the cards boosted the development of color printing, more sophisticated card designs appeared, making the cards works of art.

The trend toward fanciful trade cards was balanced by the pragmatic need of a growing group of private entrepreneurs who had a constant need to exchange contact information. These users often started to print out their own cheaper business cards.

Current usage

With the economic leveling of the 20th century, and the wane of social formality, the rigid distinction between trade cards and visiting cards slowly faded except in the highest socio-economic classes.

In the highest socio-economic classes, there remains even today a rigid distinction between business cards and visiting cards. In such social circles, it is still considered to be in very poor taste to use a business card when making a social call. A business card, left with the servants, could imply that you had called on business.

For the rest of the world, the exchange of business cards has become common even for social introductions. Some people carry "personal" business cards which contain only personal contact information and have no relation to their employer or business.