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Deborah Merkin

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Deborah Merkin, CEO and Founder of GiftCard Partners™, Inc. and Engage2Reward™ LLC, brings two decades of experience to the forefront of the gift card industry. Armed with a BS from University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MBA from Babson College, Deborah's career spans technology startups and corporate giants, including AT&T Capital and Staples. A pioneer in establishing and shaping lucrative new distribution channels, Deborah’s expertise grew through consultancy roles with Linens’N Things and CVS®. This journey marked her entrance into the gift card and incentives industry and ultimately laid the foundation for the conception of GiftCard Partners. A Certified Women Owned Business, GiftCard Partners was founded in 2005 and has received the prestigious Best and Brightest Company to Work For® Award for 10 years nationally. With a focus on assertiveness and balanced steadiness, Deborah continues to drive innovation and growth in the dynamic world of gift cards. Beyond her professional success, Deborah is deeply involved in community service, recently joining the board of JBBBS.org and previously serving on the board of JFSMW.org for 5 years.
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Recent Posts

Employee Leadership in 3 Easy Steps

Employee leadership is critical to maintaining employee morale and motivating employees toward organizational goals. Here are three tips to ensure you lead your employees effectively.

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Speedway Named In Top 5 Favorite C-Stores

We always strive to make our clients proud, but many times we also get to be proud of our clients, and we like to brag about them. Last week Speedway was named in a
Market Force Information study as North America's 5th favorite convenience story. The survey considered a number of factors including fast and reliable service, locations, cleanliness, merchandise selection and many others. Speedway excelled in all categories and came in fifth overall!
The study revealed important information for convenience store chains and franchisees. While price remains a competitive factor, only 26% of respondents marked it as number one. Service and cleanliness ranked higher among consumers than price alone. One criteria made Speedway an out-and-out winner, though. Speedway came in first in the "promotions and discounts" category, which can create loyal customers and brand advocates. The fact that Speedway customers find promotions and discounts (and presumably price) a satisfaction category of importance means that they will be particularly happy to receive gift cards to either begin or continue shopping at Speedway. If your employees are Speedway loyalists, using
Speedway gift cards to promote employee engagement and rewarding a job well done can go a long way in creating trophy value and a lasting impression on your employees.  

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Health Care Facilities Focusing on Food with Brands Like SUBWAY


Photo courtesy of QSR Magazine, "Just What the Doctor Ordered" article
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Employee Recognition Is Engaging

We write a lot about utilizing gift cards for employee recognition in this space because frankly they're a great way to recognize your employees for great work on a limited budget. But all of our effort to convince you is for naught if employee recognition programs are not implemented correctly within your organization.
Here's the concern,

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The #1 Potential Problem with Mobile Payments

Apple unveiled their forray into the already crowded mobile payments space earlier this month and it seems to have the whole industry talking about how Apple Pay and all of the other mobile payment ventures are integrating not only payments, but gift cards and gifting into consumer shopping experiences and retailers' POS. Here's the one component of mobile payments no one is talking about yet: will consumers adapt? A new study by Princeton reveals important information about how consumers feel about mobile payments. Without consumer adopting, it won't matter how many companies invest in the space or who has the best option.

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