GiftCard Partners Blog

The holiday season is a crucial time for businesses to express appreciation to their employees, clients, and partners. In an industry valued at a staggering $242 billion, corporate gifting is not just a kind gesture—it’s a strategic investment. Over 78% of businesses report that corporate gifts offer a substantial ROI, particularly in terms of brand recognition and relationship building. As we approach the holiday season, it’s essential to plan gifting strategies carefully, focusing on the timing and denominations to ensure maximum impact. 

When it comes to rewarding employees and delighting your corporate partners, one option will rise above the rest: eGift cards, also known as digital gift cards. The ability to instantly deliver tokens of appreciation directly to your employees' inboxes or smartphones is the ultimate blend of convenience and connection. Plus, redeeming these digital treasures is remarkably simple with many merchants welcoming them both in-store and online. 

Everyone loves a gift card for the holidays--easy to give and even easier to receive. In fact, 76% of adults decided to purchase at least one gift card or eGift card for holiday shopping last year. A gift card is guaranteed to please everyone on your list, whether that be an employee, member, customer, or client. 

It’s been a little over a year since the Speedway acquisition of Hess Retail Network, and executives are excited that the conversion to the Speedway brand is “significantly ahead of schedule”. Nearly 1,000 of the 1,245 Hess locations have been rebranded to Speedway and 240 have been remodeled or are in the process of being remodeled.

 When it comes to Papa John’s ingredients, their well-known slogan has said it all, “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John’s”. Now, the CEO and founder, John Schnatter, is looking to give that mantra a fresh new meaning as the company plans to launch a new campaign to further improve the quality of their ingredients by removing even more artificial ingredients from their pizza. The first step to this commitment is to give customers an illustration of which unwanted ingredients are currently being used, which are not used, and what will be removed by 2016. Papa John’s created a new web page in order to keep customers updated. The web page also compares Papa John’s ingredient scorecard with two industry leaders in removing artificial ingredients, Chipotle and Panera. By the end of the year, Papa John’s ingredients are expected to be on par with Chipotle, which has one of the cleanest labels. The company also plans on issuing a statement about not using artificial colors by the same deadline.
Papa John’s is no stranger to using quality, real ingredients in their pizza. Back in 1996, Schnatter specified to a sausage and beef plant that he did not want artificial ingredients or unsavory animal parts in his product. Though told the price of these quality ingredients were more, Schnatter said he was unwilling to compromise.