GiftCard Partners Blog

Gift cards are a great incentive to get employees to perform a certain behavior at a certain time, aligning your customers to advance your business goals. A great example of gift card use for mutual consumer and retailer benefit is currently being displayed by Microsoft with relation to the phase out of Windows XP. Microsoft will cease providing support and updates for the operating system next week, so the software giant is providing gift cards to any consumers who purchases a laptop running Windows 8.1 and can prove they previously had a computer running Windows XP. The gift card is good for laptops over $599 and also include a limited amount of tech support. Windows needs consumers to phase out use of Windows XP to prevent security issues for their customers. And if you're running a computer with Windows XP, chances are you could use a new laptop. The leverage gift cards provide solve both issues, while still offering consumers a choice in which product they upgrade to and giving them a wide time range to take advantage of the offer. How could you use gift cards to leverage your consumers' behavior?
For more information on the Microsoft offer or to learn how to use gift cards to prompt consumer behavior check out this article from Incentive Magazine.

The New York Times reports on an interesting new shape for customer loyalty programs, and it’s not as simple as just maintaining, focusing on, or improving a loyalty program. This centers around GE Capital’s relationship with Kobie Marketing to unify shoppers’ profiles, to not just track purchases and create offers and rewards based on what is paid for on plastic, but also monitoring shoppers’ retail social media interactions. The New York Times article explains, “That means they can be monitored across any platforms they might use to interact with the company, like Facebook, Foursquare or an app, and their purchases can be integrated into that profile regardless of how they pay.” The article shows how, “Membership and loyalty programs have been a part of the retail landscape for years, but they have become increasingly important as retailers vie for customers both online and in their physical stores.” An example of the importance of such programs is Sears Holdings’ rewards program, “Shop Your Way”, accounted for 70% of their 3rd quarter 2013 sales
¹. Sears Holdings’ year end results
² may have been even more disappointing WITHOUT the strong boost their loyalty program offered them. Loyalty program evolution and growth is important to retailers and merchants who continually need new and innovative ways to engage with and retain customers. Click for more of the article GE Capital to help Set Up Loyalty Programs for Retailers. Sources: 1. TNYT: GE Capital to help Set Up Loyalty Programs for Retailers 2. TNYT: Sears’s Sales Fell 9.2% in Tepid Holiday Season

It should be no surprise that in a tough economy consumers are finally using those gift cards that are stored in their kitchen drawer (OK, that’s me), in their wallet or left on their  work-desk for a while. FirstData reported last week that closed loop gift cards (those specific a particular brand vs. credit branded) are in fact being used more due to higher prices for core consumer products. “Armed with this in-depth analysis and actual industry data provided by the 2011 Prepaid Midyear Card Performance Update, executives will have the necessary context and perspective to make better business decisions about their prepaid programs.” Gift card buyers are now also armed with what the general public wishes to consume – gift cards.
Read the report, First Data’s Executive Summary: 2011 Prepaid Midyear Gift Card Performance Update