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Newsletter - December 2007
GiftCards.com is currently running a video submission contest and will be giving away a $100 Visa gift card every week to a lucky winner. The contest began on December 1st and will run until February 2nd. Contestants are to submit a thirty second or longer video to GiftCards.com's YouTube Group about how they spend their Visa gift card. With so many consumers attached to YouTube and videos continuing to sweep the Internet, this is a chance to submit a video, win a gift card, and show the millions of visitors to YouTube how creative you are. The team at GiftCards.com will be judging the videos and are looking for creative submissions.
Incentives for Your Employees or Clients
How are you rewarding your employees this holiday season? Are you offering incentives throughout the year to your team? In a recent study conducted by Incentive and Potentials magazines, 82% of the 338 companies polled said they use gift cards and gift certificates as a part of their incentive, recognition, and rewards programs. Companies are able to take advantage of a gift card program like GiftCards.com's and reward their employees throughout the year as well as giving them a gift of choice during the holidays. With over 50% of individuals wanting gift cards this year as gifts, what better way to reward your employees than giving them a Visa gift card that empowers them to choose where to shop.
Giving a gift card for the holidays or throughout the year can work as a marketing tool for your company too. However, there are still many Fortune 1000 companies not taking advantage of this unique marketing platform. With a CoBranded card, when a client or employee spends their gift card your company's logo is right there on the front of the card! The cashier who takes the card and the person behind you in line will be interested in what "type" of card you are using. Let's face it, we can all be noisy at times, and there is nothing like seeing something for the first time or even just something new that sparks our attention. A CoBranded card with your logo on it is just that tool.
The results of the Incentive and Potentials magazines poll show that the number one reason why businesses use gift cards as incentives is ease of administration. The second highest reason was redemption options. With GiftCards.com's new service CardTrack™, it is even easier for employers and HR managers to manage their gift giving and incentive programs, making administration simple for the purchaser. Employers are able to utilize the easy navigation of the CardTrack interface to maintain their gift card giving programs themselves. This also proves extremely beneficial when companies have branches all over the country, but want to keep their rewards program organized and easily accessible. The program also allows employees to login and view their progress and redeem a gift card. CardTrack was designed to help all corporate consumers manage their incentive and rewards programs and create an interface that is user friendly.
Businesses are continuing to see the benefits of giving gift cards for their incentive programs and with the ease of ordering bulk, personalized gift cards there really isn't a better gift to give for the holidays or throughout the year.
Gift Card Buying Trends Increasing in Hispanic Market
Gift card buying trends continue to increase each year. The gift card industry has been taking off for several years and each year shows a steady increase in number of cards purchased and the average amount spent per gift card. Also, surveys show that more people are eager to receive a gift card, which was once seen as an impersonal gift, than ever before. Over 50% surveyed said they wanted gift cards this season according to the National Retail Federation.
The gift card buying trends are also increasing rapidly in the Hispanic market. According to Comdata Stored Value Solutions, Hispanics, on average, received gift cards with the highest average value, $71. Comparatively to African-Americans and Caucasians, this is considerably higher with African-Americans averaging $60 and Caucasians receiving an average of $41.
"Our survey shows us that Hispanics are enthusiastic consumers of gift cards," said Bob Skiba executive vice president and general managers of CSVS. "Hispanics represent an exciting growth area for retailers."
The study also shows that 40% of Hispanics report buying gift cards for personal use, compared to 30% of Caucasians and 24% of African Americans. Another interesting note is that 69% of Hispanics surveyed reported spending more than the amount on the gift card. Hispanics also give gift cards to children more than Caucasians and African Americans for the purposes of rewarding their children as well as teaching them the value of money. Instead of giving children their weekly allowance, parents can use gift cards to reward their kids on monthly basis and feel a sense of responsibility by have a prepaid credit card, which looks the exact same as mom and dads' bank card.
The numbers are certainly showing a very excited market for gift cards and specifically a rapid increase in buying from the Hispanic market. With gift card purchasing still climbing, these numbers will certainly continue increase.
