First Data Corp. has come up with a set of best practices designed to help closed-loop gift card issuers increase their sales and improve the impact of their prepaid programs. The lessons were derived from research the company did during the 2014 holiday season.
First Data’s 2014 U.S. Gift Card Holiday Mystery Shopping Study sent mystery shoppers into approximately 658 stores across 63 retailers nationwide. The study examined multiple aspects of gift card programs including the following areas:
- Point-of-Purchase Displays
- Design and Packaging
- Positioning
- Signage Placement
- Distribution
The white paper offers both best practices and the opportunity for issuers to compare themselves against a national sample of gift card issuers and sellers. It also includes brief discussions of how Starbucks and Tim Hortons have approached the converging world of digital and plastic cards. As retailers work to navigate a changing gift card market, this paper provides useful guideposts for evaluating programs.
Overview by Ben Jackson, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service for Mercator Advisory Group
