Feature: Vouchers and gift cards: The customer is the real winner

With vouchers and gift cards remaining among the most popular gift choices in the UK, their success should not only be attributed to the fact that they are one of the most flexible gift solutions on the market. It is equally because the industry is continually seeking new and inventive ways to ensure that customers enjoy a positive experience, from the initial purchase right through to redemption. Let’s look at some of the innovations that are helping to make vouchers ever more convenient and user-friendly for consumers.

Gift card malls were a popular new fixture in many stores at the end of last year and Chris Grace of Coinstar E-payments UK expects their popularity to grow. “With more locations than ever having gift card malls – for instance, Clinton Cards and Somerfield have just launched them – this will be the best Christmas ever for consumers looking to pick up the perfect gift,” he says.

InComm Europe, which provides third-party retailers such as Asda and Shell with gift card malls, is also expanding in this arena having signed an agreement with Woolworths UK to launch across its nationwide network of 820 stores. Tim Pope, InComm Europe’s head of sales, says: “Gift card malls have now come of age in the UK, and third-party support for stores is essential, especially during peak seasons when store personnel have to serve more customers and hit higher sales targets.”

Derrick Hardman, managing director at Capital Incentives & Motivation, believes that the increased popularity of consumer gift cards, which is being leveraged by the success of gift card malls in particular, will also disseminate into the business-to-business sector. “As the general public becomes more used to buying gift cards, this will filter into the B2B incentives sector,” he predicts. “Already, more B2B organisations are using electronic cards instead of vouchers in their trade incentive programmes as they offer enormous benefits for channel marketers.”

The “convenience factor” that the voucher and gift card industry strives to achieve was really taken to the next level when Payzone, the largest cash acceptance network in Europe, teamed up with P&MM to produce the first multi-retailer gift card designed specifically for the convenience store market.

Natasha Toothill, Payzone\\\\\\\'s director of gift services and vice-chair of the Va, comments: “For the first time, a selection of top high-street brands are available on one card at convenient locations like newsagents and petrol stations. It is great to see Va members like Halfords, Waterstones, Debenhams and Boots recognising the potential in providing gift cards to the convenience store sector. The Payzone gift card has been designed to capitalise on the last-minute shoppers and impulse buyers who often head to convenience stores to find presents.”

John Sylvester, executive director of P&MM, adds: “We are very excited about taking a product that has proven to be so successful in the corporate incentive sector and launch it on the consumer market as this is a great opportunity to transform the gift card industry.”

Helen Jones, marketing manager at Theatre Tokens, explains that there has also been recent innovation in paper vouchers: “We carried out some market research and found out that our customers wanted more choice and immediacy,” she says. “In response, each of our vouchers now has a PIN so that customers can have it validated via a web-based system and book their tickets instantly. It’s great to have been able to harness technology to deliver a better service and product offer to our customers.”

Recognising the value of creating a positive customer/client experience has been key to the continued success and popularity of vouchers and gift cards. With Va members working hard to bring as many new innovations to the market as possible that enhance this experience, it is the customer that is the real winner.