GiftCard Partners Blog

What’s the high level? The
2011 Gift Card IQ Survey reveals good news for retailers when it comes to “bigger” incentive gift card budgets. The five largest budget categories (all above $75,000) all increased. For example: -    Budgets “more than $100,000 nearly doubled to 15 percent this year, compared with 7.8 percent in 2010.”

There were many workshops, panels and info-sessions at this year’s IMA Summit. GCP’s Deb Merkin moderated the highly attended panel discussion: Challenges of Moving Bulk eCerts/mCerts Through the Distribution Pipeline. There was an overarching theme that carried throughout the discussion amongst panelists and attendees; there is a clear need for technology based gift card industry standards. Starting with what they are called, there are many terms used – “let’s standardize” was the consensus. IMA will survey leaders in our industry to cull common terms and help create standards. Another standard isn’t quite as simple to create: a common technology platform or industry technology standards for eCerts/mCerts.  Some companies have a legacy system or a middleware provider with technology that isn’t compatible with the technology running a loyalty program’s platform (just one example). This issue affects retailers’ willingness to adopt eCerts/mCerts in the B2B marketplace, therefore meeting or not meeting the wishes of B2B customers and the consumers demanding technology based gift cards. The goal is common amongst all parties; we want to make it simpler for retailers to adopt technology based gift cards and for customers in the B2B market to purchase eCerts and mCerts in bulk. Plainly stated…standardization will be a win-win for our industry.    

Virtual work-force Promotes Company Growth, Family Values and a Healthier Environment

WELLESLEY, Mass.,
Aug. 16, 2011
/PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Today
GiftCard Partners' (GCP)
Ed Shulkin and Deb Merkin announced 10 years of vision coming to fruition as their virtual workforce now stretches across all regions of the country.
Massachusetts,
New York,
California,
Florida, and
Oregon are just a few of the company's remote workplace "home" offices. Read the rest of the PR Newswire release here:

GiftCard Partners Expands from Coast to Coast with Entirely Remote Workforce.

Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) and the
Incentive Federation recently published a study that highlights gift cards as an employee reward preference over cash rewards. The study about incentive awards recognizes non-cash incentives as a way to control spending, while motivating employees and channel partners. The preliminary results of the study point out that employee cash incentive awards are averaging $732.00, which is triple the cost of non-cash awards. “The study validates our experience and belief that the average cost of a cash award is roughly triple that of either merchandise ($206) or gift cards ($240),” according to Incentive Federation Chairman Stephen Slagle.  “The total cost of incentives is especially important in our post-recession economy, so the data points stimulated extensive discussion around the benefits of each award type,” he explained. To read more about this study, visit
IMA’s Return On Performance. Check back with us regularly; we’ll publish a link to the full study results once they are available.

We know digital gift cards and incentives are popular, based on their ease of delivery and eco-friendly nature, while still providing the same flexibility of a tangible gift card.  But what we want to know is who is most likely to buy this new technology? Research conducted by Urban Wallace Associates and sponsored by CashStar provided the GCP team with some insight. In this eGift Card Buyer Study, they interviewed over 6,000 eCert users across a national sample. Here are some key findings: There are 3 different demographic shoppers: 1. Generous Gifter- This is primarily a mom who is responsible for all the family gifting. She works,is part of a two-income household, has children and is very busy. She is looking for an easy way to shop with a personal touch. Giving a gift card or eCert is easy. She spends approximately $35per gift. 2. Metro-Digital Shopper- A young urban professional who is busy, looking for instant gratification, and only shops on-line, via smart-phone or ipad, often on the go. The Metro-Digital Shopper is highly educated, tends to spend over $75 per gift card/eCert and purchases during peak times like lunch time and in the evening. 3. The Grateful Boss- ( This is the segment GCP was most excited about, as we had a little potential for B2B information!) This is typically a front-line manager who wants to provide instant gratification for a job well done. He/She is highly educated, makes over $100K a year, and 98% are married. They tend to purchase gift cards/ecerts an average of 5-7 times a year with an average value of $150- $200! They usually purchase during lunch time between 11 AM and 12PM. The Grateful Boss may have a secret budget for this program, purchase it out of his personal funds, or through a formal motivation program. But in any of these cases it is important to provide quick gratification for the employee and reinforce successful behaviors. The research also discussed that 85% of digital gift cards and incentives are incremental sales over plastic! Which begs the obvious question, why aren’t more retailers using eCerts? Let us know what you think about this by leaving us a comment!