GiftCard Partners Blog

Gift cards have become a versatile and appreciated choice for holiday gifting in the workplace. They provide a hassle-free way to say thank you and can cater to diverse preferences. Here are five innovative ways to use gift cards in your workplace during the holidays, benefiting employees, customers, co-workers, and even your company's philanthropic efforts.

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching retailers are preparing for big revenues and high traffic in stores. Preventing gift card fraud is a great way to ensure revenue is retained and retailers don't take a hit to their Q4 numbers because of consumer fraud. According to a recent survey by NRF 78% of retailers have been victims of gift card fraud. Here are 3 ways to prevent gift card fraud this season
1. Keep an Eye on Gift-Card Racks: Keep gift cards in an area where store clerks and floor attendants can see them. Protecting gift card numbers from view and keeping racks in plain sight will help prevent consumers from stealing cards or gift card numbers.
2. Raise a Red Flag for Zero Balance Complaints: Employees can replace customer gift cards with zero balance cards behind the register. If you receive a number of zero balance complaints from a single store it may be time to closely monitor staff.
4. Compare Number of Gift Cards Activated with the Number Sold: Doing simple comparisons of number of gift cards sold with the number activated can help you stop any issues you may have during the short 25 day shopping season. Catching a fraud issue as it's happening rather than finding out about it later is always a better strategy.
For more information on preventing gift card fraud this holiday season check out this article from Entrepreneur.com.

As the holiday season approaches and the holiday shopping season descends consumers are spending more than they have in recent memory, but they are still looking to save and add value whenever possible. Adding a loyalty program for your consumers, your employees, or both can add measurable value to your business. Adding a loyalty program for consumers will keep them coming back throughout the holiday season, and an employee loyalty program will keep employees satisfied and motivated during a busy time of year. Loyalty programs can take a variety of forms, from a points system in which consumers or employees can accrue points over time based on purchases or a job well done respectively,  to a rewards based system where consumers or employees receive rewards, such as gift cards, for these same behaviors. According to Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, "From a data/analytics/insight perspective, the generic branded, especially the reloadable cards are more important [for brands] and you glean more insight into the interests of the consumer." Johnson goes on to note that the ease of use gift cards provide to both consumers and employees makes them very valuable in the context of loyalty programs. During the holiday season as people become busy and very budget conscious, gift cards help ease the burden on necessities such as clothing from
The Limited or
The Children's Place, or gifts for others from retailers such as
1-800-Flowers. The flexibility of gift cards offers employees and consumers the flexibility to use the loyalty rewards gifted to them on gifts for others.  
For more information on gift cards as loyalty rewards check out this article from BizReport.

Although the holidays are still 3 months away now is the time to begin planning your end of year employee rewards. For many companies money is still tight, and often end of year bonuses are still not in the budget. There are still many effective ways to reward your employees at the end of the year. These rewards are the most important rewards you give all year, as they are what will motivate your workforce into 2013. Many companies give out gift cards during the holiday season, often to restaurants like the
Cheesecake Factory. These cards allow employees to enjoy a meal out with their friends and/or family, helping to ease their seasonal financial constraints. Other organizations are giving out gift cards to promote healthy living such as the
CVS/pharmacy Select card, to help employees make good on their New Year’s Resolutions. Other organizations wait until the craziness of the holidays has subsided and throw a big party for employees in January, offering a chance for employees to decompress and enjoy spending time together, outside of the office. However you choose to reward your employees this holiday season, ensure that the rewards you choose are effective in motivating and rewarding your workplace demographic. Give the employees what they want, so they can continue to use their expendable energy on reaching company goals in 2013.
For more information on how best to reward your employees this holiday season check out this article in British Marketing Week.

“After years of recession-fueled frugality, more Americans are feeling the holiday gift-giving spirit in 2011”, says a recent USAA survey. Has your company’s holiday giving increased this year? Budgeting was likely done a year ago, but are you spending more for employee and customer gifts due to better times or do you fall in the “budget glue” category? Have you thought of
gift cards as budget glue? You can literally stick to the dollar of your company gift giving budget with flexible denominations, while giving the gift that people really want – choice!