GIFT CARD INDUSTRY NEWS

DEIB Corner (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging) 
November 30, 2023  DEIB Newsletter:   DEIB Coffee Break 11/16 Recap & December Dates of Note

November 15, 2023  DEIB Newsletter:  DEIB Coffee Break - Presents and Presence: You are the Gift.

November 1, 2023  DEIB Newsletter : Recap of Oct 26 Coffee Break - Be Focused; Cutting through the Chaos and Managing Life as a Badass

October 4, 2023  DEIB Newsletter : This week's newsletter continues the conversation after last week's Coffee Break about Microaggressions.  
Resources from Hummingbird Humanity:   Microaggressions PowerPoint    |   Inclusive Language Guide


September 20, 2023  DEIB Newsletter: The DEIB Task Force continues to see ways to spotlight our members and their lived experiences. As such, please enjoy the first DEIB Member Spotlight this time written by Benita Johnson. 

September 6, 2023 - DEIB newsletter: Imposter Syndrome, Anxiety, & Intersectionality


FAM Co-Chair Martha Weaver on The Protectors Podcast

How to spot fraud, outsmart criminals and protect yourself from scams

SFGATE
June 15, 2023 (By Martha Weaver)

(BPT) - By Martha Weaver, Retail Gift Card Association Fraud Committee Chair

Criminals are smart. And increasingly sophisticated. With technology and artificial intelligence (AI) at their fingertips, they are constantly finding clever ways to take advantage of honest, hard-working Americans. There are a variety of scams criminals use to steal money, and many are turning to more cunning methods that involve bank accounts... Continue reading here.

Counting on Gift Cards

CStoreDecisions
August 3, 2022

The events of the past few years have pushed convenience stores to rethink traditional category management strategies. Once steady, reliable product families were shaken by the drastic changes ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading here.

Fiserv :4 Creative Ways Retailers Are Using Gift Cards to Drive Sales"

June 2022

With supply chain issues are stressing physical inventory and inflation running high, consumers are turning to gift cards to fill the gap and stretch their spending power.  Economic factors are driving consumers to purchase more gift cards than ever before, and it’s important that businesses keep their loyalty and rewards programs fresh and relevant.  Tom Niedbalski, VP Fiserv Gift Solutions recently provided his thoughts to Total Retail on how retailers can provide customer incentives that keep their gift cards top of mind. Continue reading here.

ShopWithScrip Rebrands as RaiseRight, Announces Lou Agnese as Chief Executive Officer
RaiseRight.com
May 11, 2022

ShopWithScrip, the largest gift card fundraising platform in the United States, has rebranded as RaiseRight and announced that Lou Agnese, an executive with extensive experience in consumer-facing digital marketplaces, has been appointed as chief executive officer to drive a new era of growth... Read the full article now...

Facts About Gift Cards: New RGCA Data 
The GiftNow Blog
May 2022

GiftNow is a proud member of the Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), a group of over 100 gift card retailers and technology providers committed to promoting and protecting the use of retail gift cards. The RGCA was founded in 2008 to represent the closed-loop gift card industry.... Read the full article now...

New Diversity-in-Gift-Cards Website Provides DEI Resources for Gift Card Industry
diversity-in-giftcards.org
April 21, 2022

Today two industry-leading gift card associations, the Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC) and the Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), announced the launch of their new website diversity-in-giftcards.org. The website is one of several initiatives from a collaboration between the two organizations that started in 2020 when RGCA and IGCC leaders agreed the industry needed to take action to help promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.... Read the full article now...

How Walmart thwarted $4 million in elder gift card scam
CNCB.com
April 4, 2022

In the first nine months of 2021, consumers reported losing $148 million in frauds where gift cards were used to pay scammers, according to Federal Trade Commission data... Read the full article now...

Restaurant gift card sales up in 2021, still down over 2019
QSRweb.com
February 8, 2022

Digital card sales in 2021 were the highest they've been in the years included in the report. Sales were driven by the... Read the full article now...

One employee's idea keeps 200 tons of plastic from Landfills
Best Buy - Ale Valeriano
February 1, 2022

We are one of only a handful of retailers to offer customers 100% paper gift cards.... Read the full article now...

Google might've accidentally approved an ad for a Target gift card scam
The Verge
January 18, 2022

It appears that Google inadvertently approved a prominent ad for a phony Target gift card balance checker that’s meant to steal your funds, although it has since removed the ad.... Read the full article now...

Restaurant Gift Cards Sales Up Over Last 2 Years
Retail Consumer Behavior  
January 12, 2022

"It's clear that the restaurant industry is starting to recover from the pandemic, but the nature of that recovery will continue to reveal itself as we take a deeper look at the numbers,"... Read the full article now...

Starbucks Rewards : How the coffee Giant's mobile app became a winner
Wall Street Journal
January 12, 2022

WSJ’s Heather Haddon explains why mobile technology has become a business priority for Starbucks and garnered it a loyal customer base...   Click here to view Heather Haddon explain...

Holiday Rewind: How the shopping experience changed in 2021
Retail Drive 
January 10, 2022

With 2022 now underway, and sales results soon to be rolling in, we take a look back at what defined the 2021 holidays shopping season...  Read the full article now...

What Does Fraud Look Like on Digital Wallets?
Card Not Present
January 6, 2022

In late October, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel at the Retail Gift Card Association Forum (RGCA), the premier annual event in the gift card industry, where senior executives from Panera, Disney, Inspire Brands, and Best Buy joined me in discussing the fast-changing gift card landscape...  Read the full article now...

Reflections from the Retail Gift Card Association Forum: A fast-changing landscape
Karl Tapales
December 14, 2021

In late October, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel at the Retail Gift Card Association Forum (RGCA), the premier annual event in the gift card industry, where senior executives from Panera, Disney, Inspire Brands, and Best Buy joined me in discussing the fast-changing gift card landscape...  Read the full article now...

People are fighting back against gift card scammers. Here's how
Ian Sherr
November 30, 2021

With few safeguards in place to protect you and me from gift card scams, some people are filling in the gaps. Read the full article now... 

Gift card scams are growing, and we're all paying the price
Ian Sherr
November 25, 2021

Every year, scammers trick Americans into handing over millions of dollars in gift card payments... Read the full article now...

Supply-Chain Crisis Is Bad for iPhone, Great for Gift Cards
Amelia Pollard and Augusta Saraiva, Yahoo! 
October 18, 2021 

In an economy hamstrung by all types of global supply-chain snarls, a mounting product shortages - even Apple is reportedly slashing production - are making giving gift cards a fail-safe way to ensure there are presents under the Christmas tree. Read the full article now...

Once a holiday staple, gift cards are now viewed as a stop gap for inventory shortages 
Saqib Shah, ModernRetail 
October 18, 2021

Faced with acute product shortages, retailers are incorporating the humble gift card into their outsized holiday rescue efforts. Read the full article now...

A large chunk of the retail investing crowd started during the pandemic, Schwab survey 
Maggie Fitzgerald, CNBC
April 8, 2021

The pandemic spurred a flood of new retail investors into the stock market, and a survey from Charles Schwab attempts to estimate the size of this new generation of traders. Read the full article now...

Mastercard report reveals massive pandemic-driven shift to ecommerce
Adriana Nunez, eMarketer
April 8, 2021

Mastercard’s Recovery Insights report highlighted the scale of the pandemic-driven digital shift in 2020—as well as what to expect going forward. Read the full article now...

Major Brands Lag on Mobile Acceptance Despite a Drive for Contactless, a Study Finds
John Stewart, Digital Transactions
March 24, 2021

After the pandemic struck a year ago, stores scrambled to install technology to support a wide range of payment options, including tap-and-pay, to reassure skittish consumers. But now a new report indicates those efforts may not have gone as far as many have assumed, particularly in the area of contactless payments. Read the full article now...

Restaurant Habits In The Post-COVID Future, By The Numbers
PYMNTS
March 24, 2021

The last year has been difficult, often even devastating, for restaurants, but alongside these challenges came a huge outpouring of innovation, with many restaurants implementing new digital technologies and operational solutions to carry them through the year. As restaurants pivoted, so did consumers, adopting new ordering technologies and dining routines to enjoy restaurant-cooked meals whenever possible. Read the full article now...

How Target's omni-channel leap of faith 5 years ago set it up for retail's COVID crisis and beyond
Stuart Lauchlan, Diginomica
March 3, 2021

In 2016, US retailer Target set off on an omni-channel transformation journey that 'loved the store'; in 2020, that foresight paid off during the COVID crisis. Read the full article now...