The United Kingdom is still making the transition from paper vouchers to plastic gift cards. An article in on www.retail-digital.com provides a look into how gift cards are viewed in the U.K., as Gilles Coccoli, the managing director of PrePay Solutions talks about the advantages of using prepaid cards and how the U.K. prepaid market is evolving.
For retailers, prepaid gift cards are an ideal way to promote their business. They reinforce the brand, generate loyalty and offer a reduced risk of fraud compared to paper vouchers as many of them need to be activated by the recipient before use. The fact that prepaid gift cards have no value until they’re used at the till has other benefits. It means they can be merchandised on the sales floor as a serious gift alongside other products, thereby achieving greater visibility.
The article also discusses customer perceptions of paper vouchers versus gift cards and the growth in the U.K. prepaid market as a whole. Mercator has talked about tactics and strategies for using closed-loop cards in promoting business in the report “New Market Opportunities for Closed-Loop Gift Cards.”
