GiftCard Partners Blog

The Prepaid Expo tells us in the form of this infographic. We know our retailer and merchant gift card clients struggle with many of these challenges. There are additional challenges for those, like our clients, who are selling their prepaid products in the B2B market, and GCP supports and guides them through these challenges and those that will crop up. What % of these strategies and challenges are you dealing with?

As smartphones become more prevalent in the daily lives of consumers, retailers are constantly coming up with ways to reach these consumers in the space where they are spending an increasing amount of time……….on their mobile devices. While systems like Square and PayPal previously targeted small to medium sized businesses, they have moved into the top tier retail space. This will allow consumers to make payments using their mobile device, instead of having to carry around a wallet full of plastic. Due to the increased importance and usage of smartphones, retailers are also making gift cards available through a mobile device more and more frequently. Not only is it easier for the person recieving the gift card to redeem their gift, but it also revolutionizes the way a friend, or employer delivers the gift. There is added convenience on both sides of the gift card. Imagine giving rewards to employees on a rolling basis through a spot rewards program. The employer can deliver rewards witha click of a button to any number of employees in any number of locations. Mobile gift cards are also revolutionizing the mobile retail space and transforming the way people give and receive gifts.
For more information check out this article and interview with Ken Paull, Executive Vice President of ROAM Data, from PYMNTS.com.

As the economy continues to improve, I for one am thinking about how and where to vacation this summer. On a personal level, I know I will grab up deals with extra gift card dollars wherever I can find them. And with professional interest, Harris Interactive’s recent survey (on behalf of Choice Hotels) seems like really great timing for the loyalty rewards market. The survey reports that out of  the 2,100 U.S adults that were surveyed, over 87% of Americans plan to travel for leisure this summer, and they report that if they had an extra $50 to spend on their vacation, they'd be most likely to spend it on:

No matter if you gave your mom a gift in person this past Sunday, sent her flowers, or just called to let her know you were thinking of her, the most important thing was that you sent her a personal message. 1-800-Flowers teamed up with celebrities and professional athletes this Mother's Day to send personalized messages to both their moms, and potential 1-800-Flowers customers. The celebrity Facebook posts about sending mom flowers on Mother's Day served as ads on sponsored pages encouraging consumers to do as the celebrities did, and use 1-800-Flowers's services, but they are also using social media in a dynamic way. Using Facebook as an advertising forum, while still staying true to the traditional form of personalized social media messages is a new trend. Chris McCann, President of 1-800-Flowers noted“Getting customers to tell stories is better than us telling the story,” and went on to comment about how Facebook is used to facilitate relationships. Those relationships can be between a retailer and a consumer, or between a mother and child. How did you celebrate your mom this Sunday? Did you use social media to let your network know just how much Mom means to you? Leave us a comment and let us know!  
For more information on unique usage of social media for mother's day campaign check out this New York Times Media Decoder blog post.