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vertical opportunities
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processor First Data spotlight
Powering the Next Generation of Gift Cards
At the birth of the gift card industry, First Data was there. More than 15 years and 300- plus partners later, the company continues to push into new territory as its national retail partners in- tegrate loyalty, mobile and social media into their gift card programs.
In 2014 First Data acquired Gyft,
a mobile gift card platform that enables consumers to manage all their gift cards in one place, while earning points. The platform also gives retailers of any size the ability to increase customer engagement with real-time promotions that
First Data says drive revenue, encourage social sharing and build brand awareness. Access to this growing distribution channel is helping retailers expand their gift card reach, while providing more choices for consumers—particularly tech-savvy millennials.
“Physical gift cards still account for 95 to 96 percent of all gift cards purchased, but at 4 to 5 percent, virtual is growing fast,” notes Michael Hursta, vice president and prepaid category manager, First Data. “We’re fielding lots of ques- tions about virtual. Merchants want to know how they can get more in- volved and how they can tie virtual cards into their loyalty programs,” he explains. A key benefit of virtual/ mobile gift cards is that retailers can test campaigns, see results and adapt quickly—without investing in mailers and card stock.
Merchants want to know how they can get more involved and how they can tie virtual cards into their loyalty programs.
—Michael Hursta
While Gyft has its own consumer- facing mobile app, Hursta says retailers view it as a complement, not a competitor, to their own apps. “The Gyft app can interact with a retailer’s app to generate the best user experience,” he notes. But for smaller retailers that don’t have an app of their own, Gyft can provide access to a mobile gift card pro- gram for the first time.
Value of Reloads
Promoting closed-loop reload capabilities is another way to drive usage and spend back to stores— across all channels. Some of First Data’s largest partners—Walmart and Starbucks—have long lever- aged the benefits of reloadable cards as a loyalty mechanism. “Most cards actually are reload- able from a technical perspective,” Hursta adds. “But retailers haven’t been marketing that capability.
A lot of conversations now are about engaging customers and giving them a reason to reload.
“A challenge with implementing
an effective loyalty strategy is programs often haven’t been very specialized. If you give the same offer to everyone at the same time, it dilutes the message,” Hursta continues. “The more specialized you can get around a customer’s specific behavior the better.”
That’s where First Data’s data come in. The Atlanta-based processor has massive amounts of data on its 63 billion annual transactions, but, Hursta says, there’s more to it than gathering data. “It’s part art, part science,” he says of using data to improve customer engagement. And, mobile helps a lot.
“Omnichannel marketing is becom- ing key to our retailers, and we’re working to help them bridge their efforts across all their channels,” Hursta says. He points to one