GiftCard Partners Blog

Loyalty360 brings us an interesting concept that loyalty programs are often misconstrued as the final parts of what should be considered the small pieces of their make-up, the points, rewards, and deals. In
Changing Times by Phil Rubin, CEO of rDialgoue speaks with us about what’s really important in loyalty: the building of one-on-one relationships with customers. Most retailers and merchants think of points as so central to their customer loyalty, yet Amazon doesn’t have a standard points program, yet they have one of the most loyal customers in the industry.
How does Amazon do it? And, what can you learn from brands that go beyond points and rewards to engender loyalty and trust? Check out loyalty360’s article
Changing Times and their 360 podcast.

The first quarter of 2012 included GCP’s visits to and participation in many meetings, conferences and events, including the PrePaid
Expo, the InComm Partner Alliance, the South Florida Success Expo (SWFL), and the Loyalty Expo. In Q1’s trend report, we captured a pulse on 2011 B2B gift card sales results, key gift card market expansion trends for 2012, and an update on the effects of New Jersey’s gift card laws to our industry.
Read the full B2B Gift Card Trend Report here.      

It is a proven and accepted reality in business today that engaged employees increase a company's bottom line. However, new research from Gallup show that engaging B2B customers by establishing an emotional connection based on confidence, integrity, pride and passion is crucial to customer impact. Engaged customers deliver 23% more revenue than average customers in wallet-share, revenue, relationship growth, and profitability. According to the same Gallup research only 13% of B2B customers are fully engaged. Engagement exists when customers go out of their way to favor a relationship over price. This deepens a relationship, and often customers  are rewarded for their loyalty with either a discount for services rendered or other perks from the company providing the service. Treating customer engagement and employee engagement similarly will garner similar outcomes. Reward customers for any business you gain, the way you would an employee. Provide spot rewards, such as a small gift card for small business gained and for a major expansion in business or formation of an industry partnership, provide a broader reward. Creating a 360 degree customer feedback loop provides opportunities for relationship growth. Putting constant work into the companies' relationship is crucial. The time you spend ensuring that your employees are loyal should be equivalent to the time you ensure that your customers and partners are going to continue to drive your business.  
For more information on B2B customer engagement check out this Business News Daily article.

American Express has taken a landmark step in their fight to oppose the New Jersey law that would allow the state to claim unused gift card balances after two years. A recent National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast discussed Amex’s gift card product pull from shelves, and also noted Blackhawk’s threat to pull their 3
^rd party gift and prepaid cards. InComm, the other major 3rd party gift card play is also planning to follow suit.
Listen to NPR's Morning Edition interview.

Since gift cards are given as gifts, incentives and employee rewards, they are often thought of by retailers and merchants as a customer acquisition tool. Let’s say a customer doesn’t shop at a particular retailer or merchant often or at all. Yet a family member, friend or employer gives a particular brand based on it meshing well with the recipients’ needs. This gift card now becomes a new customer acquisition tool or a customer loyalty tool for the retailer. BUT, are retailers also thinking of their own gift cards as a tool to lower operating costs? When your customers use debit and credit cards for their purchases, the burden of the transaction fees falls on that retailer. There are no fees when your customers utilize their closed-loop gift cards in your own name. The impressive numbers add up when you think of the difference your gift cards can make when selling them by the hundreds and thousands in the B2B market. GiftCard Partners’s customers buy multi-millions of dollars in face value gift cards annually across all our retail brands. Those are all consumers using your gift cards versus credit or debit payment card options that rack up fees charged to you. Check out
First Data’s Perspective: The Evolution of Gift Card Strategy to see how retailers and merchants are re-evaluating their cost of payment acceptance at their POS locations.