Gift Card Industry News

5 Retail Insights from a Covid Christmas

Armando Roggio, Practical Ecommerce
December 30, 2020

Holiday consumer spending offers insights into the retail industry, including ecommerce’s continued growth, consumer spending, and customer relationships. 2020 has been extraordinary... Read the full article now...

E-commerce: The Trend that Dominated Retail in 2020

PaymentsJournal
December 24, 2020

At the end of 2019, no one could have predicted the trends that would emerge in U.S. retail during 2020. From the panic-induced hoarding of toilet paper in March to a slew of bankruptcies among depart… Read the full article now...

6 Tips to Safeguard your Gift Cards

The RGCA
November 4, 2020

Gift cards are safe and convenient payment and gift options—evident by their widespread popularity and use. But, when shoppers don’t know the right prevention techniques, criminals can abuse gift cards, just as they can abuse debit cards, credit cards, or checks. Here are six tips to safeguard your gift cards: 

Gift Card Scam Protections on the Daily Show

The Daily Show
December 4, 2020

Learn about new holiday scams and gift card scams to watch out for in 2020. Watch the full video now...

What a vaccine could mean for retail

Daphne Howland, Retail Dive
November 10, 2020

"There's finally hope of an end to a pandemic that has destroyed lives and livelihoods, and upended consumer behavior. For now, uncertainty still rules." Read the full article now...

12 ways to prevent fraud during the COVID‑driven ecommerce boom

Don Davis, Digital Commerce 360
November 10, 2020

"The spike in U.S. online shopping since the COVID-19 outbreak that forced many physical stores to close in March has created big sales opportunities for online retailers, but also challenges in deterring fraud." Read the full article now...

Pandemic Expected to Dent Holiday Shopping Spending 20 Percent

Rebecca Baird-Remba, Commercial Observer
November 10, 2020

"The brokerage’s retail research team explained that the projected decline is consistent with shoppers shifting their overall habits during the pandemic toward essentials like groceries and home improvement items..." Read the full article now... 

Blackhawk Network Acquires NGC

Blackhawk Network
November 6, 2020

"Today, global branded payments provider Blackhawk Network announced that it has completed its acquisition of National Gift Card (NGC), one of North America's largest card and prepaid technology companies." Read the full article now...

E-Commerce Marketing: Preparing For The New Wave Of Customers

Mat Zucker, Forbes
November 1, 2020

"E-commerce shopping has steadily grown, even accelerated due to Coronavirus, expected to reach $4.2 billion globally in 2020 (Statista) and be more than 16% of global retail sales." Read the full article now...

Holiday shoppers are crossing themselves off of the gift list, trade group says

Melissa Repko, CNBC
October 21, 2020

"As holiday shoppers look for gifts, they plan to spend less overall and pull back on purchases for themselves, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation." Read the full article now...

Digital payments can bring reassurance post-COVID-19

William Girling, FinTech
October 16, 2020

"Motivated by their first-hand experiences of—what they perceived as—exorbitant transaction charges while on abroad, James Lynn and Craig Goulding, both experienced investment bankers, founded Currensea as a 'smarter way to pay overseas'." Read the full article now...

Black Friday is over: Here’s why retailers are touting weeks of deals this year

Lauren Thomas and Melissa Repko, CNBC
October 2, 2020

"
Black Friday has been losing its clout for years. The coronavirus pandemic could be what finishes it. The one-day event of doorbuster deals, packed mall parking lots and crowded shops has long been considered the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season." Read the full article now...

E-Commerce Sales Will Explode This Holiday Season, Putting Retailers’ Online Strategies To The Test

Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes
September 27, 2020

"
While we await the National Retail Federation’s holiday retail forecast – which will come any day – Deloitte and Forrester are out with their predictions for holiday 2020 and year-end." Read the full article now...

Online Gift Card Sales Soar As Pandemic Restrictions Send Consumers to Their Laptops

Steve Cocheo, The Financial Brand
September 9, 2020

"
The pandemic has sparked a huge lift in online gift card sales as consumers make shopping for the plastic part of their e-commerce routine." Read the full article now...

From free rent to gift cards, landlords are trying to entice renters with bargains

Katie Park, The Philadelphia Inquirer
September 7, 2020

"
Touted as a boutique luxury apartment building in the nexus of a tony suburb just outside Philadelphia, the Delwyn in Bala Cynwyd planned to open in the spring and charge as much as $2,430 a month for its biggest units." Read the full article now...

COVID-19 pandemic accelerated shift to e-commerce by 5 years, new report says

Sarah Perez, Tech Crunch
August 28, 2020

"
As the COVID-19 pandemic reshapes our world, more consumers have begun shopping online in greater numbers and frequency." Read the full article now...

More Consumers Prefer Contactless Payments for Pandemic Purchases

Steve Cocheo, The Financial Brand
August 27, 2020

"
Fears of catching coronavirus from surfaces like point-of-sale card readers and keyboards have favored growth in contactless card and mobile wallet transactions." Read the full article now...

July retail sales were OK. August may be another story.

Daphne Howland, Retail Dive
August 14, 2020

"
Retailers may have breathed a sigh of relief in July as their customers returned to stores with their wallets open." Read the full article now...

Discerning the impact of Covid-19 on fintech firms and their role in financial inclusion

Finextra
August 13, 2020

"
While the fintech industry is still evolving, the evidence so far indicates that it has a key role to play in financial inclusion, according to Ana Fiorella Carvajal, lead financial sector expert at World Bank." Read the full article now...

Can summer BOPIS practices forecast holiday trends?

Tatiana Walk-Morris, Retail Dive
August 6, 2020

"
Erik's Bike Shop already offered buy online, pick up in-store for several years, a service that was seldom used before the COVID-19 pandemic. Then came the coronavirus." Read the full article now...

Apple Sued Over Alleged $1 Billion App Store And iTunes Card Scam

Davey Winder, Forbes
July 27, 2020

"
You might well think that if asked to pay outstanding taxes by way of App Store and iTunes gift cards, well, you'd be just a little suspicious that all was not above board."  Read the full article now...

Digital Wallet Adoption Surges Across Eight Markets; Digital Gift Cards See Boost from Self-Use, According to Blackhawk Network's 2020 Multinational BrandedPay™ Report

Blackhawk Network
July 23, 2020

"
Today, branded payments provider Blackhawk Network released its 2020 Multinational BrandedPay report revealing a surge in digital wallet adoption with 88% of surveyed shoppers in eight markets using a digital wallet of some kind." Read the full article now...

$20 Gift Cards To Be Offered For Coronavirus Contact Tracing Efforts In L.A. County

Louie Diaz, Hometown Station
July 21, 2020

"
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is set to offer $20 gift cards to individuals infected with the coronavirus if they participate in contact tracing, officials said Tuesday." Read the full article now...

Back-to-school spending could hit a record as parents buy costly technology for kids at home

Lauren Thomas, CNBC

July 15, 2020

"Parents may not yet know whether their children will be sitting in a classroom, or at the dining room table, when classes resume later this year." Read the full article now...

6 steps for retailers in this crisis and the next

Ed Valdez, Retail Customer Experience

June 23, 2020

"The global challenges unfolding across the country in the past few weeks have presented a huge humanitarian and economic challenge." Read the full article now...

eCommerce Takes Half Of Pandemic-Driven Retail Growth

PYMNTS

June 17, 2020

"The dramatic consumer shift to Digital 3.0—predicted months ago by the PYMNTS COVID-19 tracker work—is accounting for almost half of the retail growth in the US." Read the full article now...

‘Pent-up demand’ and ‘revenge shopping’ are driving U.S. retail and restaurant spending

Katie Park, The Philadelphia Inquirer

June 17, 2020

"National retail and restaurant spending jumped dramatically in May as stores and dining began to reopen across parts of the country during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a preliminary sales report from the U.S. Commerce Department released Tuesday." Read the full article now...

National Retail Federation Talks About Covid-19 Impacts On Retailers

Jeff Fromm, Forbes

June 17, 2020

"Retailers plays a pivotal role in the U.S. economy—and while they’ve have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector has adapted through innovation." Read the full article now...

Store shutdowns drive a 519% jump in online sales for GameStop

Digital Commerce 360

June 11, 2020

"Despite the higher ecommerce sales, Q1 total sales dropped 34%. The video game retailer also reported a net loss of nearly $166 million." Read the full article now...

New retail habits from coronavirus ‘ingrained’ in shoppers, Tractor Supply CEO says

Hannah Miller, CNBC

June 11, 2020

"Consumers will likely stick to shopping habits picked up during the coronavirus pandemic well into the future, according to Hal Lawton, CEO of Tractor Supply Company." Read the full article now...

Time Is Now To Use Bankrupt Stores’ Gift Cards

PYMNTS

June 9, 2020

"Consumers whose wallets are bulging with gift cards issued by now-bankrupt retailers should think about spending them now—since they may become worthless." Read the full article now...

The Retail Pivot: How Retailers Have Adapted Through Digital Transformation

Agnes Teh Stubbs, Adweek

June 5, 2020

"As soon as storefronts shuttered in the wake of COVID-19, retailers had to adapt their business models. The pandemic is reshaping the landscape of American retail and accelerating digital transformation rapidly." Read the full article now...

Here are the retail winners in a post-Covid world, according to Evercore ISI

Maggie FItzgerald, CNBC

June 4, 2020

"The retailers that will survive the coronavirus crisis are those that can adapt to changing consumer behaviors that emerged from the pandemic, according to Evercore ISI." Read the full article now...

Americans Have Been Slow to Embrace Contactless Payments. Coronavirus Will Change That

Diana Pearl, Adweek

May 29, 2020

"In May 2019, New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority made the milestone announcement that it was rolling out a contactless payment system, starting with the 4, 5 and 6 subway lines from Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn." Read the full article now...

No Bathrooms, No Sephora Makeup Counter: How Retail Is Changing Post-Coronavirus

Sissi Cao, Observer

May 29, 2020

"As of this week, every state has reopened from the coronavirus lockdown to some degree, allowing parks, construction sites and certain non-essential businesses to resume operation." Read the full article now...

Which major retail companies have filed for bankruptcy since the coronavirus pandemic hit? Here's the list.

Emily Pandise, NBC News

May 15, 2020

"From iconic department stores to entertainment giants, the coronavirus has seemingly spared no one in its devastation of the U.S. economy." Read the full article now...

Preparing for the 2020 Coronavirus Holiday Season as an eCommerce Seller

Dave Furness, eSeller Cafe

May 11, 2020

"As of Monday May 11th, some reports have found that there has been an 87% increase in eCommerce revenues when compared to normal averages." Read the full article now...

Demand for Digital Gifting Reaches All-Time High

MarTech Series

May 7, 2020

"As consumers are pushed to shop online, findings from a new study by NAPCO Research, a leading independent retail research firm, examine the progress and areas for growth in digital gifting programs." Read the full article now...

Consumer Behavior: Now and Post Coronavirus Pandemic

Renata Akers, Total Retail

April 21, 2020

"Amid this time frame of widespread panic and uncertainty, three momentous, albeit predictable, changes in consumer behavior occurred." Read the full article now...

How the coronavirus pandemic could lift gift card sales

Jaime Toplin, Business Insider
April 20, 2020

"To help these businesses stay afloat, payments providers and fintechs are enabling merchants to easily sell gift cards for use after the pandemic." Read the full article now...

COVID-19 Drives Walmart Grocery Mobile App Download Surge

Raymond Pucci, Payments Journal
April 14, 2020

"The Walmart Grocery app has seen all-time highs in downloads and now ranks No. 1 among shopping apps in the U.S. as of April 7, 2020, according to a new analysis from tech firm App Annie." Read the full article now...

Consumers Look to Gift Cards Amidst the Crisis

Blackhawk Network
April 9, 2020

"Blackhawk Network research shows consumers are using gift cards for charitable activities and sales data shows spike in egifts, ecommerce sales of gift cards." Read the full article now...

Blackhawk Network Acquires SVM Cards

Blackhawk Network
April 8, 2020

"Acquisition enhances B2B customer offerings with entry into fuel card issuance and expands robust incentives customer portfolio." Read the full press release now...

A Message from the RGCA: Strategies for Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis"

RGCA
March 26, 2020

We understand that COVID-19 is impacting all aspects of our daily lives and businesses. Here are ways gift card programs can help retailers, consumers, and the economy right now. Read the full article now... 

Experts say buying gift card will only 'go so far'...

Bethany Biron
March 20, 2020

"With retailers closing up shop around the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus, consumers are being called to support small businesses by buying digital gift cards to ensure cash flow in the short term. However, experts said that while gift cards can provide immediate relief for fixed-cost expenses like rent and utilities, many will need significant governmental aid to stay afloat and pay their workers." Read the full article now...

Retailers brace for the impact of coronavirus

Caroline Jansen, Retail Dive
March 18, 2020

"While consumers' appetite for discretionary shopping has decreased substantially, mass merchants and grocery stores grapple with new demands." Read the full article now...

Creating and/or Updating Your RGCA Profile

RGCA
March 16, 2020

If you missed the RGCA email on creating your new profile and logging in to the new website for the first time, please see our step-by-step instructions. If you attended the 2019 RGCA Forum, you will already have an existing profile and should follow these instructions. If you did not attend the 2019 RGCA Forum, please follow these instructions to create your profile.

Blackhawk Network Summit Canceled

Blackhawk Network
March 11, 2020

Contact Blackhawk Network directly for more details.

Flourish Postponed—Attend Virtually March 16-17; InComm Partner Alliance Canceled

Flourish
March 9, 2020

See the Flourish website for more information.

For questions on the InComm Partner Alliance, please contact alliance@incomm.com

The Impact of Coronavirus on Retail

Retail Dive
March 5, 2020

"While COVID-19 spreads globally, the retail industry braces for the outbreak's fallout."  Read the full article now.

 

Flourish in a Flash Podcast: The Future of B2B and Incentive Gift Card Programs

Flourish
February 27, 2020

Listen now.

Americans have $21B in unused gift cards and store credits

Fox Business
February 18, 2020

"Although gift cards have topped holiday wish lists in recent years, half of U.S. adults currently have unredeemed gift cards or store credits that are estimated to be valued at $21 billion in untouched money, according to a new survey..." Read the full article now.

The IRF 2020 Trends Report

The Incentive Research Foundation
January 17, 2020

"The IRF 2020 Trends Report highlights key trends that will affect organizations, their products and services, and the workforce in 2020. From enhancing program reporting to embracing the experience economy, the study identifies key areas of change and their implications for workforce engagement, incentive travel and recognition." Read the full report now.