GiftCard Partners Blog

From our eNews: Waste of Time & Money or Money Well-Spent? When creating our eNews, we sometimes come across information a little outside of health specific gift card news; this is such a piece.
We have seen writings representing both sides of the debate over health risk assessments and their value to an organization, and we feel that
this article outlines some great viewpoints and information. We're glad you stopped by! Leave a comment to voice your opinion or share an HRA success story ...
waste or worth it?

In our constant efforts to stay apprised of up and coming gift card technologies, GiftCard Partners recently investigated which of the Top 50 Retailers(1) are accepting gift cards as payment online. We found that over half of the Top 50 retailers do. Among those that don’t, they are primarily restaurants or drugstores. Getting in touch with your gift card e-retail side is now more important than ever. Wide-spread broad-band across America has contributed to an increase of internet users, from 55% to a whopping 84% in the last 10 years(2). Not only will adopting online gift card redemption enhance customer convenience, increase sales, and amplify loyalty; it is also a foray into the mobile internet realm, which is predicted to overtake desktop internet usage by 2013(3). No matter the size of your business, not accepting online gift card redemption is a missed opportunity to engage with customers via their potential preferred researching and buying method. Other opportunities include: * Decrease  in breakage (if they are in your breakage #’s they are lost customers)

This interesting Canadien article pointed out a seemingly obvious but interesting point.  As unemployment rates drop employees gain an advantage over employers in terms of the job search.  Employers find during these times of transition, when the unemployment rate is dropping and employees tend to start to look around the job market, that they need to ensure that their employees stay happy.  How to keep employees happy? Incentive programs! A poll of 429 businesses found that more often than not, business owners count on employee incentive programs to draw and maintain motivated employees.  Increased employee motivation is the top priority of 88% of respondents.  Gift cards are an incredibly effective way to motivate your employees.  They are easy to administer and use, they hold trophy value, and show true thought when given from employers to employees.  How high on your priority list is employee motivation this year? How do you incent your employees?  
For more information on employee motivation in the coming year click here.

GiftCard Partners' Deb Merkin attended the CashStar Digital Gifting roundtable and said it was jammed packed with great market research and the roundtable discussion was invaluable. CashStar’s Retailer Roundtable brings together leading analysts, technologists, thought leaders and a myriad of retailers to discuss the future of digital gifting.
CVS/pharmacy and
Brinker, 2 of our clients will be present and taking part in this roundtable! Digital gifting has altered the way the B2B gift card market progresses, with efficiencies for the retailer, buyer and the end consumer, while directly tying in with mobile and
social media initiatives… We look forward to seeing the results of this meeting in the coming weeks. PORTLAND, Maine, Jul 14, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CashStar, the digital gifting and incentives company, today announced that it has brought together the industry's top influencers and retailers for the world's first event exclusively focused on the e-gifting industry. Taking place today in CashStar's headquarter city of Portland, Maine, the CashStar Retailer Roundtable has brought thought leaders together to brainstorm the future of digital gifting with a focus on mobile and social channels.
Click to read more about this landmark digital gifting event.

It’s hard to go anywhere online without seeing social media icons, “likes” or stories about how Facebook is being used to enhance retailer loyalty…”social loyalty”. Building social media pages, vying for your “likes” and offering targeted promotions…but then what? What does it really mean to retailers for consumers to “like” something in this way? And what does it mean for prepaid and gift cards? So, I go to one of my favorite sources for marketing research, and information, Mashable and I am instantly tied in with my friends who share the same favorite source. Let’s put this scenario into a retail ecommerce setting … I’m researching new mobile phones and selected the phone I’m interested in; I could see who my friends are that have “liked” the Droid on Facebook. This is likely to influence my opinion of the product. The bigger picture shows a snapshot of ecommerce transactions excelling exponentially. Last week Adweek published: “Data Shows Real-World Results for Facebook 'Likes', One new fan for a retailer produces 20 website visits”. This is great news for retailers (our clients), but it’s great news for the prepaid industry and its gift card component as well. GCP’s end customers (B2B or bulk buys of gift cards) benefit as well, as the recipients of the gift cards have new ways of engaging with the card brands they are holding.