GiftCard Partners Blog

The
Retail Gift Card Association recently released a study of 1,000 consumer opinions surrounding gift cards, how they are used, how they are gifted to others, and how consumers view them overall. While consumers are still practical about how they spend the balance, with only 30.6% indicating they would use the balance for a "slurge" purchase, consumers use gift cards and covet receiving them. Here are some of the most compelling facts from the
RGCA survey.

I’m a native Rhode Islander and proud that CVS hails from Little Rhodie. I’m also a Boston Lover, living in Boston proper and the suburbs for almost 20 years. I love seeing generosity for special support projects, but this one touches our hearts at GiftCard Partners with our headquarters located approximately ½ through the Boston Marathon Route. CVS/pharmacy is our client and we seek to represent the best of the best retailers in the U.S. to promote and sell their gift cards into the B2B market. We are very proud of how our client has stepped up in support of the victims and families affected by the Boston bombings. CVS Caremark and CVS/pharmacy has donated over $750,000 to
The One Fund Boston. Proud to be local to this wonderful place and all the companies and people willing to help! Check out:
CVS Caremark Donates Over $750,000 to The One Fund Boston Month-long in-store fundraising campaign in Boston-area CVS/pharmacy locations raises more than $650,000 to support victims of Boston Marathon attack CVS Caremark's private foundation previously donated $100,000 to The One Fund Boston

GiftCard Partners', CEO, Edward Shulkin, and COO, Deborah Merkin, were recently invited to the 2013 
pymnts.com Innovation Project. The event brought together retailers, payments industry experts, and thought leaders in the payments industry to discuss present and future trends. 
The hot topic of the event: mobile payments. “What the GCP team noticed was the overall difference in the way mobile payments and commerce are viewed by retailers when compared to the view within the payments industry,” writes GCP’s writer, Rachel Merkin, about their experience in the article, 
Payments Industry Identity Crisis. To learn more about the trend of mobile payments and how it may affect the future of the payments industry, read the 
full article and see what topics were discussed and what the GCP team took away from the event.

It’s a social world out there!  And loyalty programs are firmly embracing the concept of social loyalty, an extension of loyalty programs that supports customers’ actions on social channels. As a marketing and incentive engagement company, are you including a social loyalty component in your loyalty program offerings?

The value of building customer loyalty shows in your bottom line. You know that attracting new customers is important but still not the crucial part of your loyalty program. It’s just the first step, next comes building customer relationships. It can cost your company 5-7 times more to find new customers than to retain one, so nurturing and engaging consumers once they have chosen your brand is key to big savings and a successful ROI in the long run.