GiftCard Partners Blog

CVS Health and Target Corporation recently entered into a definitive agreement for CVS Health to acquire Target’s pharmacy and clinic businesses. CVS Health is set to acquire Target’s more than 1,660 pharmacies across 47 states and operate them through a store-within-a-store format, branded as CVS/pharmacy. Target’s nearly 80 clinic locations will be rebranded as MinuteClinic, while CVS Health will open 20 new clinics in Target stores within 3 years of the acquisition being completed. These new clinics will be part of CVS Health’s overall plan to operate 1,500 clinics by 2017. CVS Health and Target plan to develop five to ten small, flexible format stores over a 2-year period as well, branded as TargetExpress and will include a CVS/pharmacy. This relationship will bring together two of the top retailers in the U.S. The complementary strengths, brands, and cultures will enhance the health care experience for Target shoppers while expanding CVS Health’s retail presence in new markets. This will allow CVS Health to reach more patients, and with their proven success of growing its business, the relationship is expected to benefit Target’s long-term traffic and sales growth. Target will center on continuing to deliver products and experiences to help guests eat well, be active, and find natural and clean label products. Read more about this exciting acquisition from the CVS Health Newsroom!

Summer gift cards are gaining popularity in the gift market this spring and summer. As individuals look for gifts for moms, dads, grads and newlyweds, gift cards continue to be the catch-all gift that's easy for the gifter and always a pleasant surprise for the giftee. The  infographic below from the Retail Gift Card Association reveals that 80% of gifters want their recipients to have the option to redeem online or in-store, showing that omnichannel flexibility is an overwhelming consumer concern. Since gift cards are flexible in nature, consumers want to ensure that recipients have as much flexibility in how and where they redeem as they do in what merchandise they redeem for.

Ever wondered what employee rewards your staff really want? While you know they may appreciate the sentiment of the reward, and even find the rewards fun, have you ever wondered, if they could pick anything, what the general employee response would be? In a recent study done by The Voucher Shop these hard-to-come-by desires are revealed. Even though these are results from across the pond, there's a lot to be gleaned applicable for American employees and households as well. Here are the top categories employees want to see in rewards from their employers:

You may not have known, but part of Whole Food Market’s mission includes a promise towards the humane treatment of animals and they are winning accolades for their animal welfare practices. The company has been recognized with both the Good Sow Commendation and the Global Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming.

Employers are at all points on the learning curve when it comes to health and wellness programs. However, as employee engagement increases, so does employer health and wellness spending. The average per employee cost for health and wellness programs is up almost $100 over 2014 and the use of screenings and carrot rewards to boost engagement are also increasing. The decreased use of "stick" disincentives along with the increased use of biometric benchmarking is making health and wellness programs more inviting to employees. According to a recent study of employers offering health and wellness programming in 2015: