GiftCard Partners Blog

The plus-size fashion market is very robust.  The average American woman is a size 14 and women wearing size 14 and up now account for 67% of the population.  So it's no surprise that plus-size clothing sales grew more than 5% from May 2013 to April 2014 and the plus-size clothing industry is now a 17.5 billion dollar industry. Social media has done its part in changing the way we think about plus-size fashion.  While the majority of women fall into the plus-size category, many women are uncomfortable identifying themselves as a plus-size shopper, which makes word-of-mouth recommendations difficult.  How do you recommend a store to a friend without offending her?  Sharing your recommendations on Facebook and Twitter is one way.  Retailers are now making plus-size fashion, well, more fashionable!  Retailers are encouraging women to openly embrace their personal style rather than to hide their shape.  Plus-size clothing is moving away from the drab tent-dresses, elastic pants, and polyester.  Customers want options that mimic runway trends at reasonable prices. Two retailers,
Catherines and
Lane Bryant, have been trend setters in the plus-size fashion world for years.
Lane Bryant is the nation's leading women's special size apparel retailer, providing stylish and high-quality fashion in sizes 14-28. The Lane Bryant collection includes a wide selection of career to fashion conscious apparel as well as accessories, footwear, and Cacique® intimate apparel. Lane Bryant fashions are available nationwide at its 775 Lane Bryant stores, and online. Interested in purchasing Lane Bryant gift cards in bulk? We've got you covered
here.
Catherines began as a small clothing boutique catering to plus-size women long before it became fashionable, hoping to bring style, beauty, and confidence to plus-size women. It is the Catherines mission to serve the lifestyle and fit needs of women size 18+ with up-to-date outfits inspiring her to look and feel her best. Current fashions and accessories for career and casual lifestyles for today's plus-size woman, sizes 0X - 5X can be found at nearly 400 specialty stores in 44 states and online at catherines.com. Interested in purchasing Catherines gift cards in bulk? We've got you covered here. Want to be part of the discussion? Join the new hash tag movement to show demand for more sizes - take a photo of something you would buy on the spot if it came in your size and use the hash tag #plussizeplease
Read the New York Times article Plus-Size Fashion Moves Beyond the Muumuu.

We always strive to make our clients proud, but many times we also get to be proud of our clients, and we like to brag about them. Last week Speedway was named in a
Market Force Information study as North America's 5th favorite convenience story. The survey considered a number of factors including fast and reliable service, locations, cleanliness, merchandise selection and many others. Speedway excelled in all categories and came in fifth overall!
The study revealed important information for convenience store chains and franchisees. While price remains a competitive factor, only 26% of respondents marked it as number one. Service and cleanliness ranked higher among consumers than price alone. One criteria made Speedway an out-and-out winner, though. Speedway came in first in the "promotions and discounts" category, which can create loyal customers and brand advocates. The fact that Speedway customers find promotions and discounts (and presumably price) a satisfaction category of importance means that they will be particularly happy to receive gift cards to either begin or continue shopping at Speedway. If your employees are Speedway loyalists, using
Speedway gift cards to promote employee engagement and rewarding a job well done can go a long way in creating trophy value and a lasting impression on your employees.  

CVS Caremark, the parent company to CVS/pharmacy, recently
announced its acquisition of Navarro Discount Pharmacy. 
"The acquisition of Navarro will strengthen CVS/pharmacy's position in the Hispanic marketplace, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., and we are excited to be adding the Navarro Discount Pharmacy brand to the CVS/pharmacy family," said Helena Foulkes, President, CVS/pharmacy. CVS/pharmacy continues to expand with this acquisition, adding to its now has 7,600 locations nationwide. Navarro customers will also benefit from the Minute Clinic services, bringing urgent health care services into new communities. CVS/pharmacy gift cards are now an even stronger brand to make available to your employees as part of a health and wellness initiative, or rewards through an employee recognition program. Gift cards are useful to employees in any denomination, large or small, which helps fit into an employer's budget for the remaining part of 2014, or as we all begin to look ahead to 2015 planning. With
four options to choose from, CVS/pharmacy corporate gift cards offer a card to fit your program.

Everyone's walked into (and presumably grabbed a coffee from) a Starbucks at least once. In many American cities you can't stand on a street corner without seeing that Mermaid logo somewhere in your 360 degree view. Starbucks has led the way in a lot of areas including employee compensation, employee training and consumer experience. Starbucks cares so much about consumer experience that they offer a full feedback loop with consumers and their app is so well designed that it has made them a (if not the) leader in mobile payments. The Starbucks app combines mobile payments and their loyalty program enables them to get consumers through the line faster, reward them for repeat purchases and streamline the consumers' checkout process. Starbucks is the mobile payments ideal, as it exists to enhance a consumers' experience at the point of sale. Setting aggressive goals to almost double their mobile payment transaction this year is what makes Starbucks an example for mobile payments across the board. Since consumers are so attached to their cell phones, bringing the check out process to their device is a great way to ensure the revenue potential skyrockets.
For more information on Howard Shultz' view on mobile payments head over to Bloomberg Businessweek.

At GiftCard Partners, one of the nation's largest developers of corporate gift card programs, we form deep rooted partnerships with our clients to help them build robust loyalty, reward or incentive programs. We offer gift cards to many of the country's leading brands, including Speedway. Speedway is the fourth largest gas station chain in the country, operating over 1,400 different stores. But Speedway offers more than gas. With a whole chain of convenience stores connected to the fuel stations, Speedway sells everything from snacks to important, everyday buys. Speedway gift cards are one of our most popular brands for employee incentives, fundraising and loyalty rewards programs. From gifts to giveaways, loyalty rewards to sales promotions, everyone loves to fuel up their programs with the Speedway Corporate Gift Card Program. With our Speedway Corporate Gift Card Program, we offer you: