As vendors bring new technology to the gift card business, retailers are taking the opportunity to make changes both to their physical cards and their gift card programs, according to Stores Magazine.
A gift card program can help unify retailers that are fragmented into corporate and franchise locations and an e-commerce site. Bringing all three elements into a single gift card program provides the omnichannel experience consumers expect.
New types of loyalty programs, mobile apps, and gift card resale sites are giving shoppers and retailers an expanded array of options for their cards. The result is a gift card market that is more diverse and robust than the one retailers had a few years ago when they relied on plastic cards to be the electronic replacement for the old paper gift certificate.
Overview by Ben Jackson, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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