GiftCard Partners Blog

Prepaid and gift cards sales are amplified with new activity as technology paves the way to better than expected growth. Mercator Advisory Group recently reported that all segments of closed-loop prepaid exceeded their previous forecasts for 2010. In-store gift cards were forecasted at 4% growth for 2010, but total load volume hit $84.6 billion, up 10% from $76.9 in 2009. The B2B gift card market realizes much of this growth via gift card categories like digital-content (online games and social networking credit) and prepaid mobile; gift cards received more loads for these digital-content activities. Retailers are also doing a better job of integrating their gift cards with loyalty programs and other consumer promotions, which catches the attention of potential incentive and rewards buyers. “Loads on employee and partner incentive closed-loop cards increased 10% and loads on consumer-incentive cards also grew 10%”, states Digital Transactions in their Mercator report overview:
Buoyed by Gift Cards, Closed-Loop Prepaid Grew Faster Than Expected in 2010 “On the whole, what we’re seeing is even the closed-loop market is showing some resilience in the face of the economy,” Jackson says. Consumers seem to be recognizing the true value of their gift cards, and “many retailers are doing a better job of integrating their gift cards with loyalty programs and other promotions, Jackson says. “They’re realizing that gift cards are not just a plastic version of paper gift certificates,” he says. Source:
Digital Transactions: Buoyed by Gift Cards, Closed-Loop Prepaid Grew Faster Than Expected in 2010
 

Designed to keep our clients informed of the evolving B2B gift card landscape The fourth quarter of last year included an exciting and prosperous holiday season that exceeded many of our expectations. Also surpassing our expectations was the response from our very own, GiftCard Partners 2011 Gift Card Usage Survey, which includes real life cases from companies using gift cards as employee incentives and an outlook for 2012 B2B gift card sales.

Designed to keep our clients informed of the evolving B2B gift card landscape The third quarter of this year brought GiftCard Partners’ sales and marketing teams to a hugely successful Motivation Show (MoShow) in Chicago as well as a very productive IMA (Incentive Marketing Association) meeting in San Diego. We are pleased to keep you current in the events that are shaping the gift card industry as well as provide you with insights into hot topics and themes that affect your role in the retail industry.