GiftCard Partners Blog

Whole Foods Market’s strategy to build brand awareness and traffic with their first-ever national ad campaign has been generating buzz and awareness, with 8 out of 10 customers having seen the ad in some format. The campaign has been performing at its best with Whole Food Market’s key demographic: adults 40 and under with children in the household.

Mobile is up and coming in the quest to define the omni-channel shopper who shops across devices and digital channels and the omni-channel customer experience. While retailers continue the quest to meet customers in all of the channels and on all of the devices they shop, mobile has prevailed as possibly the most critical of both channels and devices. Mobile feeds into both in-store and e-commerce customer interaction and customer service, which puts mobile in a unique and critically important position. 
According to a new EConsultancy survey, only 50% of retailers believe they have a solid understanding of the mobile user experience. That means half of American retailers are looking to understand the mobile solution and the role it plays in customer-brand interaction. One of the most important components of the mobile question and the role it plays in the omni-channel shopping experience is
customer service. Mobile happens in real-time, as does customer service. It gives consumers the real-time gratification that can be the difference between great customer service and the negative customer experience that can cause retailers to lose customers. Take the plunge into omni-channel shopping through mobile customer service. With
53% of retailers planning to build a unified commerce platform in the next few years, your customer experience and customer service can’t afford to fall behind. It will accelerate your brand's customer focus and create 1:1 marketing opportunities by gaining insight into consumer behavior.

High risk consumer touch points can be risky for retailers. Customers are gained and lost when high risk touch points are not taken advantage of and result in negative consumer experiences. What LoyaltyOne's new study shows is that high risk touch-points get even higher risk when certain demographic segments are at greater risk for negative brand interactions.

Employee motivation is the lifeblood of an organization- and particularly important this time of year while parts of the country are facing brutal temperatures, buried under several feet of snow or getting drenched with rain. So how do you keep employee motivation from freezing up with the rest of the country? Here are three things employee motivation killers, and some important strategies to help overcome those pitfalls.

The secondary gift card market is a delicate topic in the gift card industry. It's sort of like a dirty little secret that’s extremely helpful for consumers. In this market, consumers can recycle, regift or exchange their unwanted or unused gift cards for something that is of more use to them. It's a free market, or markets and with the access to internet today these exchange sites are literally at consumers' fingertips. While this new market may leave unwanted gift card holders jumping for joy, retailers are as thrilled. Secondary gift card markets can be seen as devaluing retail brands. These markets essentially allow consumers to trade in one brand for another, making the currency that was previously brand specific, brand agnostic. Currency no longer gets funneled into a retailer's business, but rather commoditized on the open market. Diane Freeland, GiftCard Partners' VP of Client Relations, comments on the commoditization of the secondary gift card market stating, "These secondary marketplaces offer consumers the opportunity to trade unwanted gift cards that they were received as a gift at a less than face value for the cards they are trading." Selling a retailer's brand for less than face value can have unforeseen consequences that only time will tell. Secondary gift card markets are a sensitive subject in the gift card industry, and it is certainly something we will keep an eye on. Check back to this space for more information on this subject as we track the industry’s response.