GiftCard Partners Blog

Effective September 1^st, a new gift card cash back law will go into effect in the state of Texas.

Texans will be allowed to receive cash back on gift cards or gift certificates that have a balance of less than $2.50 starting September 1, 2015. In order to receive the remaining amount on the gift card, the transaction must take place in person. The law will not apply to prepaid calling cards, cards issued as part of a loyalty or rewards program, gift cards issued as a refund for returned merchandise (store credit), cards issued by a bank or an airline, and cards initially worth $5 that cannot have any value added to them. Republican State Representative and former business owner, Dwayne Bohac, was the law’s author and "...penned the bill to strike a balance between the rights of consumers and retailers."

The first trulyomnichannel auto repair system is upon us as AutoZone partners with Openbay. The partnership, launching this month, will allow consumers (beginning in the Boston area) to comparison shop service and maintenance packages with local repair shops for their specific vehicles. The service combines AutoZone store parts with Openbay's online marketplace for auto repair. Learn more details about the partnership on Openbay's blog. The partnership enables true omnichannel retailing from both parties, combining the online comparison shopping enabled by Openbay and the in-store experience consumers have come to know and depend on for both parts and service from AutoZone.

The Amazon Dash button was so disruptive in concept that people thought it might be an early April fools prank on launch day, March 31st. The concept seemed so futuristic that it couldn't have been real. The main reason? Americans don't buy groceries online. In a world where omni-channel shopping is everywhere, groceries still remain are one of the biggest spending categories and one of the only categories almost exclusively available in-store. Some grocery stores, like Whole Foods Market, are piloting programs to make online groceries a possibility with delivery to consumers' homes part of the package. The concept is considered disruptive to the market, however, and since the concept is so new, adoption has been slow. Here are three ways that Amazon Dash could cause the biggest grocery disruption yet.

On September 30, 2014, Speedway LLC, closed on its acquisition of Hess’ retail operations and related assets. This acquisition provides Speedway a significant growth opportunity by expanding their retail presence from 9 states to now 23 states throughout the East Coast and the Southeast regions. Over the next three years, Speedway will begin re-branding Hess stores to the Speedway identity, which is scheduled to begin early this year.

Program managers looking to include gift cards into their programs now have a few more options. Gift card providers Incentive CardLab and GiftCard Partners have both announced expansions of the brands and services they are offering, with the latter adding four retailers to its roster and the former expanding into retail and e-gift cards.