Gift Cards are the most popular employee incentives in today’s market. It is easy to forget why so many people use gift cards, so let’s review the advantages experienced both by employers and employees.
Employer Advantages of Gift Cards:

As the sun comes out, and the temperature rises, Fridays tend to become shorter, daydreams about the upcoming beach vacation get longer, and the pace of the office tends to slow down. Times when sales and/or productivity may decrease, such as during the height of summer, are the most effective times to offer incentive programs to boost production. Offering gift cards for employees to spend time with their families at a restaurant, or for special services such as a bouquet of flowers creates just the right amount of incentive to get the buzz back in the office, even through July and August. This philosophy works for customers in a retail environment as well. When people aren’t coming into your store, because they are out on the beach, gardening, etc, one way to drive traffic and add to customer loyalty during these off season months, may be to offer a promotion with a gift card, purchase $100 and receive a $20 gift card to. 1800-flowers. For more tips on
how to keep your office buzzing this summer, or keep your customers coming in click here.

To follow up on last week's article on Google's announcement of their forthcoming mobile wallet app, we thought we would provide information on who is excited and confident in a virtual wallet system, and who still holds some reservations regarding the technology.  62% of all cell-phone users are willing to use mobile wallet as a payment system, when it becomes available this fall.  63% of 18-34 year olds are ready for virtual wallet availability, while a mere 37% of over 35 year olds feel confident in the system.  Also, not surprisingly, 62% of people surveyed said they would need solid confirmation that their financial information was secure before they would feel comfortable using their cell phones for payment. Mobile wallet is coming, and enough consumers are ready to use the technology that it will definitely change payment and promotional strategies for major retail companies.  Near Field Communication will allow for geographic based promotions, and the line between an online and offline customer is sure to be blurred. For more information on the
demographic break-down on mobile wallet confidence, click here.

Can't find your wallet as you are running to the store?  Soon, this will be no problem, as long as you can find your smartphone.  Google will soon be launching "Google Wallet," an application that turns Smartphones (starting only with certain Android powered phones) into mobile payment systems.  The technology will use NFC (near field communication) technology to allow consumers to pay for purchases, receive special offers, and administer loyalty and rewards programs.  So does this new technology bring online customers offline, or offline customers online...let us know what you think! For more information on the l
aunch of Google Wallet, click here.