GiftCard Partners Blog

Employee leadership is critical to maintaining employee morale and motivating employees toward organizational goals. Here are three tips to ensure you lead your employees effectively.

 
GiftCard Partners polled 500 consumers, equally divided between men and women, to get a pulse on where they are both receiving and redeeming their gift cards. These infographics dive into B2B gift card usage behaviors and outlines retail gift card awareness and purchase. We also take a look at the degree to which gift cards drive new customers and incremental visits. Below are the two infographics from our latest survey on gift card usage. Some interesting insights!
Click on each image to see a larger version open in a new window. Feel free to embed it on your own website with the code below.

This topic is really exciting for us at GiftCard Partners. In the past we've reference the growing popularity of non-cash incentives in the marketplace, highlighting statistics from the 2013 study from
Incentive Federation Inc. and
Aspect Market Intelligence's
Incentive Market Study. The 2013 study touched on the popularity of non-cash incentives, stating that 74% of businesses use non-cash options to recognize and reward key audiences in the form of incentive travel, merchandise, or 
gift cards. Now 
new research by the
Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) and Aspect Market Intelligence, conducted for the
Incentive Gift Card Council,  is showing how non-cash incentives (specifically gift cards) are still hot, hot, hot. The study highlights the continued preference for gift cards in a variety of programs, with the largest companies using them at a rate of 56%. So what are these gift cards being used for? Of the companies using gift cards, 67% are using them for employee incentives, 38% for sales incentives, 30% for customer rewards, and 8% are allocated to channel incentives. As gift cards continue to be a staple for rewards and incentives, with goals to foster motivation or drive engagement, acquisition, retention or loyalty, it's safe to say they're here to stay. Does your company use gift cards in any of their programs? If so, we'd love to here more about how. And if you're looking to add gift cards to your programs check out our gift card brands
here.

It's a question many brands face.
How can I increase my company's gift card sales? Perhaps you already have a point-person in charge of gift cards, or you're looking to adopt a gift card strategy for the first time. Either way, the opportunity is grand.
Gift cards are a mainstay - more than half of U.S. households report receiving a gift card in the last 12 months, and 85% of those recipients redeem the cards within the same time frame. Without a focused effort and a sound, smart plan for spreading the word and increasing awareness of your gift card program, it can be difficult to reach the many potential customers likely to be interested in your offer. We just
published a free guide that covers
five of the key strategies we've used with our clients over the last several years. From optimizing your in-store and online presence to thinking more strategically about third-party relationships and B2B programs, this guide is sure to help spark some ideas. Let us know what you think!

CVS Caremark, the parent company to CVS/pharmacy, recently
announced its acquisition of Navarro Discount Pharmacy. 
"The acquisition of Navarro will strengthen CVS/pharmacy's position in the Hispanic marketplace, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., and we are excited to be adding the Navarro Discount Pharmacy brand to the CVS/pharmacy family," said Helena Foulkes, President, CVS/pharmacy. CVS/pharmacy continues to expand with this acquisition, adding to its now has 7,600 locations nationwide. Navarro customers will also benefit from the Minute Clinic services, bringing urgent health care services into new communities. CVS/pharmacy gift cards are now an even stronger brand to make available to your employees as part of a health and wellness initiative, or rewards through an employee recognition program. Gift cards are useful to employees in any denomination, large or small, which helps fit into an employer's budget for the remaining part of 2014, or as we all begin to look ahead to 2015 planning. With
four options to choose from, CVS/pharmacy corporate gift cards offer a card to fit your program.