GiftCard Partners Blog

The growing demand for receiving gift cards doesn’t stop at holiday wish lists and workplace incentives. The simplicity of gift self-selection and using gift cards to stock the household with needed items, are highly redeeming factors for giving or offering gift cards in today’s difficult economy. Loyalty rewards programs are looking at this demand seriously and we’re starting to see gift cards infusing points redemption programs for credit card rewards, airline miles and consumer loyalty programs. The reason for this is simple;
gift cards offer flexibility and help people pay for everyday items….why wouldn’t loyalty rewards programs offer them to engage customers? For the same reasons, cash back programs are on the most wanted list for rewards program participants. But people are also redeeming in droves for gift cards, above more traditional rewards like travel and merchandise. Each rewards points system offers varying redemption options, but offering gift cards should be considered a priority in a world where consumers demand choice and often thriftiness.
NerdWallet takes a look at  American Express’s rewards program and rates gift cards as the top popular choice, above travel rewards and all other options (listing many as “Bad Redemption Options”). Of course, this isn’t the only perspective for why you should offer gift cards as a redemption option in your program…but as the 22nd most valuable brand in the world, American Express’s rewards program is also one of the most successful rewards programs in the world. What’s in YOUR rewards program?

The second and third quarters of 2012 included GCP’s visits to several meetings, conferences and events, including The Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) Conference, The Motivation Show, and the Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress. Each meting contributed to our holistic and evolved strategy for how to approach our clients’ gift card programs in order to attract and market to incentive customers. What were some key findings, insights and trends from these forums?
The IRF and the IGC commissioned Aspect Market Research Group to size the B2B gift card marketplace (U.S. incentive/loyalty). The study included 369 surveys, compiled from company executives who manage incentive and loyalty programs that include gift cards, and it sought to answer the question: “What do U.S. businesses spend on gift cards every year?” They quantified the market as $2.7 billion which does not include Scrip and Third Party. We will share the entire study with you once it becomes available. Here are are a few highlights:

The first quarter of 2012 included GCP’s visits to many meetings, conferences and events, including the PrePaid Expo, the InComm Partner Alliance, the South Florida Success Expo (SWFL), and the Loyalty Expo. Each meeting contributed to our holistic and evolved strategy for how to approach our clients’ gift card programs in order to attract and market to incentive customers. What are some key findings, insights and trends from these forums?
- Retailergift card revenue from in-store sales was 52% of total gift card sales
- Gift card revenue from websites was 3% - Gift card revenue from B2B Sales was 17%. - Gift card revenue from 3rd Party Malls was 23% - Gift card revenue from Web Aggregators and Distributors was 6%
2012 started out very strong for the B2B portion of the gift card market, despite changes that occurred in debit card reward programs. As a result of the Durbin Amendment, financial institutions no longer offer rewards points for use of their debit cards, resulting in a marked down-turn in B2B gift card purchases for the loyalty program channel of gift cards. How are companies like GCP dealing with this, while increasing sales for our retailer and merchant clients? GCP is expanding the end user market for gift cards by micro-targeting workplace incentive decision makers in manufacturing, energy and utilities, healthcare, call centers and insurance companies. GCP has compiled many studies and much research for an eBook that we will publish in the coming months, and we look forward to sending it to you. This eBook is one part of our multi-touch approach to grow the end-user gift card market by educating and proliferating incentive program concepts. As credit card rewards programs “lose some luster”
ⁱ amongst consumers, GCP feels that the end-customer/employer segment is crucial to growing retailer and merchant gift card programs. Simply put, the end user market diversifies the portfolio of potential customers for B2B gift cards, and it’s working! GCP is happy to announce that B2B gift card sales are up in Q1 of 2012 against Q1 of last year.

Retail TouchPoints (RTP) is an excellent source for retail executives to stay apprised of insightful content around the latest in customer-facing technologies and the development of critical customer loyalty strategies to compete in today’s retail environment. In RTP’s
Top 20 Articles of 2011; they outline top 20 most viewed articles of last year and review the top trends across those most read stories. They noted that the majority of the most viewed articles were case studies with success stories from leading retailers, highlighting that “retail executives are looking to learn from their peers….two of the hot-button topics in 2011 were mobile technology and social commerce.” I hesitate to simply lead you to the list. First, I must note that the top article is
10 Innovative Solutions In The First Annual Next-Gen Retail Awards Report; an important composition of innovative solutions highlighted at the 2011 National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Convention. The innovations profiled in the report included 10 categories like: social media; in-store marketing; inventory management; store intelligence; mobile technology; customer engagement; POS, and cross-channel. “In a challenging economy retailers are struggling to turn shoppers into brand advocates. With that in mind, customer loyalty was a hot topic in 2011.” Visit the full list of Top 20 Retail TouchPoints articles and you can also access the actual articles, insights, case studies and more to start your own innovative approaches.

Incentives within workplace safety programs have long been central to engaging employees in achieving and promoting an optimally safe work environment. However, learnings over time have led to debate about HOW to incent properly, whether it be with gift cards, merchandise or travel. Promoting not only safe behaviors, but also creating a safe environment to report unsafe behaviors, is critical to the long term success of a safe workplace. Some look to incentive companies like TharpeRobbins to create their workplace safety programs. These companies help define ideal, safe working environments and behaviors and they roll out programs like “Safe Work and Safe Driver Programs”. These programs promote and work towards accident-free workplaces through recognition and rewards via point systems. A recent
Incentive Magazine article, noted that “During the announcement of the new programs, TharpeRobbins put the reality of workplace safety into context with some financial statistics from the National Safety Council 1: *         There are 3.8 million workplace injuries in the US each year *         90,000 of those injuries cause permanent disabilities *         The average cost per injury: $28,000, adding up to $130 billion for the country overall So, there is a lot of cash at risk for companies to get their safety programs “right” and to do it right, it means creating an incentive program for the long term. Organizations like The National Safety Council support the use of incentives to promote a safer workplace, as long as the program goes “beyond the gift cards and improved performance indicators” to ensure that unreported injuries aren’t on the rise. They say, “Incentive programs can enhance established occupational safety programs but should not be considered an easy fix to underlying safety problems”. 2 OSHA also stands strong on the incentive debate, challenging companies to not just institute a safety rewards program, but be sure they aren’t based primarily on injury and illness numbers. Successful programs  weigh heavily on promoting proper reporting of injuries, without the risk of retribution or loss of incentives. Some food for thought for your creating or improving your workplace safety incentive program for 2012. Sources: 1.      
Incentive Magazine: TharpeRobbins Rolls Out Safety Incentive Programs 2.     
National Safety Council: What's your reward? The debate over incentive programs