GiftCard Partners Blog

We read a lot about gift card “breakage”. That pre-paid industry term that translates to “gift cards that have been sold but never redeemed”. Breakage is a negative term for gift card holders and it’s really not such a positive one for retailers (surprisingly). Although breakage leads to higher profit margins; retailers and merchants are NOT gaining customers or building loyalty if those gift card holders never visit the store to become a real customer. Let’s turn this principle into an opportunity for employers, loyalty programs, and Scrip gift card programs, to communicate to their participants and engage them with your program. You know who you have given gift cards to. So, communicate with those program participants, and use that information to engage them in your program. Although many will have redeemed their gift cards, show you care and send them a reminder to use their cards…that employee, loyalty points redeemer, or the Scrip gift card buyer will thank you for the reminder.

For small businesses, using efficient, low-cost marketing is essential to growing a brand and growing the business. Social media is a great way for small businesses to spread their brand. According to a recent survey, 81% of small businesses use social media in their marketing plan, and that number is constantly growing. Giving gift cards through social media outlets is a great way to handle customer service inquiries that are brought through social media. Gift cards are also a great way to reward and recognize loyal customers publicly. Social media provides inexpensive, effective ways to grow business and small businesses are catching on quickly. How is your small business using social media?  
For more information on how your business can utilize social media check out the abc-13 article.

As we move into 2024, the importance of health and wellness incentives in the workplace has never been more critical. This article highlights how creative and engaging approaches to employee wellness can lead to a healthier and more productive workforce.

Total holiday spending on gift cards last year totaled $27.8 billion. And if history is bound to repeat itself, 25% of that gift card money will remain unspent by the end of 2012. Gift cards are a very popular holiday gift. They are convenient for the giver and stress free for the receiver. However, gift cards tend to be forgotten as the holiday season winds down, and recipients are less likely to spend the balances as the year goes on. So what happens to unused gift card balances? The Securities and Exchange Commission allows retailers to count unused gift-card balances as income once they can reasonably say the card won't be redeemed. Some states require unused gift cards to go to an unclaimed-funds accounts, or put a time limit on the validity of gift cards. Beyond the reasonable timeframe to claim unused balances, retailers can use the balances for general purposes. So, as we move further into 2012, consider this a friendly reminder to spend your holiday gift card balances sooner rather than later.
For more information check out the TheStreet.com.

In a continually changing business economy, finding the right mix of salary, benefits and incentives can be a daunting challenge to get right. There are categories of folks to consider in order to continually attract and recruit top performers, motivate all employees, and retain them. Of course that mix of benefits must help the company achieve its goals, so differentiating levels of performance with varying levels of incentives can help your company not “over-reward”. Gift cards have become the go-to option for incentives for many reasons, but their appeal is super-high when differentiating levels of performance since they can be given in so many denominations and the recipient can make their own decisions about what to purchase from the retailer or merchant. Have you created differing levels of achievement with goal specific incentives to match? Check out Business Finance Magazine’s
Compensation Challenges in 2012: Finding the Right Mix to learn more about differentiation and how to shuck and jive with change in your organization with regard to compensation and incentive budgets.