Gift Cards

[Ed DiRuzza]

Hey everyone,

We have been getting approached by many of our stores who are looking for a more integrated solution to offering gift cards. As we all know, gift cards are a great way to increase revenue and advertise your store at the same time. With the holiday season fast approaching, we want to get your feedback on whether you think gift cards can work for you.

If you could take a few moments to write down your thoughts relating to the following topics, it would help us figure out a more viable and economical solution for our customers.

- Do you use Gift Cards now?
- Are they the plastic ones that look like credit cards?
- Are they generic looking or did you have custom art work put on them?
- How many do you sell in a year?
- What are most common dollar amounts sold?
- Do you sell them all year long or do you sell them mostly around Christmas time?
- Do you use an outside service to track the balances?
- What did you pay for the cards? For how many?
- Do you have to pay per swipe?
- Do you feel it's worth it? If not, what would make it worth it?
- Would it make a difference if everything was tracked within Liberty?
- If you're not using gift cards, what's the biggest hurdle stopping you? Upfront cost? Ability to track them? Give us your thoughts.

[JARREDS]

- Do you use Gift Cards now?
YES

- Are they the plastic ones that look like credit cards?
YES (via First Data & Telecheck) b/c liberty couldn't integrate with x-charge gift card

- Are they generic looking or did you have custom art work put on them?
Custom/Generic (Name w/ Image being generic) See: http://jarreds.shoprw.com/product.php?productid=6559&cat=0&page=1

- How many do you sell in a year?
Just Started a month ago, we offer them to consigors as a a way to take a check too... they get 60% instead of 20%

- What are most common dollar amounts sold?
50-100

- Do you sell them all year long or do you sell them mostly around Christmas time?
Just Started a month ago, we offer them to consigors as a a way to take a check too... they get 60% instead of 20%


- Do you use an outside service to track the balances?
YES (via First Data & Telecheck) b/c liberty couldn't integrate with x-charge gift card

- What did you pay for the cards? For how many?
$99 for 100 printed, and with holders

- Do you have to pay per swipe?
YES .10 cents

- Do you feel it's worth it? If not, what would make it worth it?
YES --> would have been nice to integrate with liberty/x-charge

- Would it make a difference if everything was tracked within Liberty?
YES!!!! Reports!

- If you're not using gift cards, what's the biggest hurdle stopping you? Upfront cost? Ability to track them? Give us your thoughts.

[klassykidz]

Hi Ed,

- Do you use Gift Cards now?
We generate paper certificates mostly for donations to silent auctions, etc

- Are they the plastic ones that look like credit cards?
No

- Are they generic looking or did you have custom art work put on them?
I create them and print on card stock

- How many do you sell in a year?
Currently less than 10, but we do not market or advertise we have them.

- What are most common dollar amounts sold?
$25

- Do you sell them all year long or do you sell them mostly around Christmas time?
Anytime

- Do you use an outside service to track the balances?
No, just add store credit to their account and let POS handle it

- What did you pay for the cards? For how many?
N/A

- Do you have to pay per swipe?
N/A

- Do you feel it's worth it? If not, what would make it worth it?
I believe it would be good to offer them year round.

- Would it make a difference if everything was tracked within Liberty?
Yes, I would prefer that

- If you're not using gift cards, what's the biggest hurdle stopping you? Upfront cost? Ability to track them? Give us your thoughts.
I looked into the cards from Cynergy a few years back, but the startup cost didn't appeal to me. So I guess I would say cost is the major factor. There is just not much wiggle room for us because of the smaller ticket price on children's clothing versus woman's or furniture.

Hope that helps some.

[Janis Jones]

- Do you use Gift Cards now?
- Are they the plastic ones that look like credit cards? Yes
- Are they generic looking or did you have custom art work put on them? Custom logo
- How many do you sell in a year? 20 or so
- What are most common dollar amounts sold? $25
- Do you sell them all year long or do you sell them mostly around Christmas time? All year round, especially at Christmas time
- Do you use an outside service to track the balances? No, bought a program that we track on one workstation
- What did you pay for the cards? It was several years ago, I paid $350 for the Alacard program then paid $500 for 1000 GCs say 7 or 8 years ago.
- Do you have to pay per swipe? Nada,as it is self-contained on one WS
- Do you feel it's worth it? If not, what would make it worth it?
- Would it make a difference if everything was tracked within Liberty? YES! I would pony up to buy new GCs that we could track within Liberty.
- One thing that we do differently with our current gift cards: when a high school or 4-H group approaches us to donate gift certificates for "post prom parties" or style shows, we give ten $5 gift cards as prizes so the same $50 public relations promotion brings in ten little 4-H shoppers to spend their $5. It is great exposure for us for the same moola.
-

[patinainteriors]

Do you use Gift Cards now? Yes
- Are they the plastic ones that look like credit cards? Paper
- Are they generic looking or did you have custom art work put on them?Custom
- How many do you sell in a year? 10 (but it is mostly by customer inquiries)
- What are most common dollar amounts sold? $50 & $100
- Do you sell them all year long or do you sell them mostly around Christmas time? All year long, but mostly at Christmas
- Do you use an outside service to track the balances? No, Spreadsheet
- What did you pay for the cards? For how many? $0
- Do you have to pay per swipe? $0
- Do you feel it's worth it? If not, what would make it worth it? For the few that we sell, it works for us.- Would it make a difference if everything was tracked within Liberty? Potentially
- If you're not using gift cards, what's the biggest hurdle stopping you? Upfront cost? Ability to track them? Give us your thoughts Do not really see a need, but to be fair, we do a pretty poor job of marketing them.

[gailg]

We currently use a generic paper certificate.

Sell about 25 per year - no big increase for Christmas - avg certificate $25

I would absolutely LOVE to see the Reward Card and Gift Card tracked through Liberty. While I doubt that most of us currently sell allot of gift certificates, the potential is there for increasing sales, if done right. Particularly this year!

IMHO, plastic cards are most desirable, but more important than the material, is having my logo on the card, the whole branding thing. We want to increase the impulse buy, especially for the holidays, so presentation is key. A display stand and nice matching jacket, or gift box for the card, seems more important to me than the actual material of the card. Swiping a magnetic card is easy, but to save cost, a heavyweight card stock (with our own design) and your upc labels affixed to the backside could be used. I recently priced laminating the card stock to do just that.

If you were to coordinate the whole plastic card thing, I encourage you to offer a generic card to keep the cost lower, but, also a customizable option for those of us wanting to keep the brand thing going.

PLEASE do not put specific $ amounts on the card. Loading the card ourselves with specific $ amounts would help cut down on the number of cards we have to have available, (saving costs) and the amount can easily be written on the card jacket.

As we have recently discussed, reward program reports are at the top of my NEED list. Identifying and selling more to our current customers is critical, especially now, for all of us. Being able to sell and track gift cards would be a nice bonus, but not nearly as critical.

Thanks for working on ways to make Liberty work even better for us!

gail gill
The Clothes Horse
Orchard Park, NY
716.662.1136

[Closet Exchange]

- Do you use Gift Cards now?
Ans. Yes
- Are they the plastic ones that look like credit cards?
Ans. Yes
- Are they generic looking or did you have custom art work put on them?
Ans. Custom with Logo.
- How many do you sell in a year?
Ans. Several hundred
- What are most common dollar amounts sold?
Ans. $50, $100
- Do you sell them all year long or do you sell them mostly around Christmas time?
Ans. All year
- Do you use an outside service to track the balances?
Ans. No
- What did you pay for the cards? For how many?
Ans. Under $1.00 each
- Do you have to pay per swipe?
Ans. No
- Do you feel it's worth it? If not, what would make it worth it?
Ans. Yes
- Would it make a difference if everything was tracked within Liberty?
Ans. Yes. Simpler and the ability to tie into Liberty Reports.
- If you're not using gift cards, what's the biggest hurdle stopping you?
Upfront cost? Ability to track them? Give us your thoughts.
Ans. NA

Ed, this would be a well received addition. For our part, we would be pleased to order card supplies from Resaleworld just as we do checks, envelopes, labels and equipment.

Bob
Closet Exchange

[bargain betty]

- Do you use Gift Cards now? yes
- Are they the plastic ones that look like credit cards? yes
- Are they generic looking or did you have custom art work put on them? they are custom with our logo on them
- How many do you sell in a year? under 25
- What are most common dollar amounts sold? around $20
- Do you sell them all year long or do you sell them mostly around Christmas time? we do sell them all year long
- Do you use an outside service to track the balances? yes, they run through my credit card machine
- What did you pay for the cards? For how many? $500 for 500 cards - at least 5 years ago and haven't run out of the original supply yet
- Do you have to pay per swipe? yes and it is about $15 per month whether I have any activity or not
- Do you feel it's worth it? I do think we have to offer some sort of gift card, but I would rather have one I can track myself through my software and not pay per swipe. If not, what would make it worth it? I would definitely buy cards from you if you add some tracking to the software
- Would it make a difference if everything was tracked within Liberty? YES!

I hope you will make this addtion to the software. I will change if it will save me money. But it won't be worth switching if I just have to pay the same fees to you instead of someone else. I already have cards to last me for several years, so unless I can eliminate the monthly fee and the swipe fees, I won't switch

Thanks!

[Ed DiRuzza]

Hey everyone,

The next release of Liberty (3.6) will include a number of new changes. I am sure you will like some of the additional features we are currently adding.

The good news is that gift cards have been implemented into this version. You will be able to sell gift cards, add amounts to them, redeem and replenish if you desire. There will be no fees for using the gift card feature. Yeah!

We would also like to offer gift cards in our Resaleworld store. From what I read in the thread relating to gift cards, it appears that most of you are not selling large quantities of gift cards - anywhere from 10 - 250 a year. Getting gift cards printed in smaller quantities is rather expensive. If you order more 1000 or so, you can get the cost down to a reasonable per card cost but smaller quantities are very expensive.

We thought we would try to take the bite out of forking over a huge amount a money for these by offering generic 4-color gift cards and then printing your store logo on the front of the card. We would also print relevant store information on the back of the card along with a unique gift card number for tracking purposes.

So I need your help, below are twenty samples of gift cards that I found all over the internet. They're pretty generic. THE AMOUNTS WILL NOT BE PRINTED ON THE CARDS - so disregard that. We're just trying to get an idea of style. Bottom line - they will all say something like "Gift Card", or "Happy Birthday", etc.

Let us know which cards you like the best. Pick your top 10. We're only going to offer 10 types in our store. As far as cost goes, we're really trying to keep these as cheap as possible. For now, let's just see what you like. Also, if you have any other recommendations on cards let us know.

If gift cards haven't won you over yet...here's a few things I came across on the internet that might sway you.

Gift cards offer...
Increased revenue
Increased float and slippage (on average 10-15% of cards are never redeemed)
No change given – 100% Value
Gift card sales boost ( average 30% more than paper)
Additional revenue streams
Enhanced promotional capabilities to drive incremental sales
Encourages return visits to reduce value on card

http://www.resaleworld.com/eed/picklist.jpg

[klassykidz]

Hi Ed,

I will go through and give you my "faves" later today. One thought I felt worth mentioning there isn't a sample that is more "Holiday" (shhh don't tell anyone I said Christmas. lol) related.

[Closet Exchange]

We like F, G, H, I, L, N, T, K.

Any bright and clear background is always easier to see and find in your bag, wallet or purse.

Thanks Ed.

Brenda
Closet Exchange

[JARREDS]

Do you have any that don't look like GIFTS?

We would like to use them as a store credit/merchandise credit...
Consignor Payouts



Thanks!


One thing: If we already have some cards with another company or paper ones... will be be able to utilize these cards with liberty :there wont be any specific format or anythign will there? - the magnetic stripes we have shoudl still work?

[gailg]

Ed,

I have to give you credit for trying to lower the costs for us...but good luck trying to find cards we can all agree on lol

To be honest, I am quite on the fence with this one. I really would prefer to pay more and choose my own card to keep the whole branding thing going on. But, being married to an accountant has taught me to think outside the box to save $$$.

So following that thought, I might be talked into something on the order of Q...swirls in a neutral color. (with maybe some white space which is where we would place our logos) Then everyone's logo could pop (we happen to have beige swirls on our biz cards, it adds an interesting element and the logo really shows up) This type of card would allow us to use it for promotions and give-a-ways, as well as selling them for birthdays and holiday gifts. I think offering a choice of patterns, such as traditional stripes, funky colors or playful polka dots would allow logos to show without overpowering them.

The other idea I like is keeping a solid color card and we could each pay to imprint our own logo. BUT, print the gift card envelopes or jackets in various patterns (ie gift, Holiday, flowers etc) I would think printing/buying the jackets in a variety of patterns has to be cheaper than printing/buying various plastic cards. I think we would be more likely to spring for a choice of inexpensive jackets or envelopes and only one basic card. AND, they could be displayed on a nice little rack just like the florists do, and people can pick their favorite pattern.

Just my 2 cents...What do you all think about the basic card and a variety of envelopes/jackets?

[JARREDS]

I agree with Gail

[EnkoreJenn]

I like also like the idea of more variety in the envelopes, but here are my top 5 for the Gift cards:
Q
R
G
A (would prefer it to be gender neutral booties, though - good for girl or boy)
C

Thanks!

[bargain betty]

I LOVE Gail's idea of solid cards on which we can print our own logos, and various envelopes or jackets to put them in... Great idea Gail!

[Ed DiRuzza]

If you already have cards and...

They are pre-barcoded with a number....it will work
They have a magstripe...it should work (90% chance)
You want to use the stickers that we sell for the promotions module...it will work

We built this module to handle just about anything - as long as the number associated with the card is unique.

We are trying to roll this out quickly so that it can be used during this season. Once we finalize the card formats, we'll be able to get things rolling.

[Ed DiRuzza]

One more thing...you will be able to 'reuse' the cards and add money to them at any time. So if it gets to zero, just use it for the next customer as long as it's in good shape or if you are using it to give store credit, you can just add money to it as well.

[JARREDS]

I Like It ... Promotions Module! :)

[Ed DiRuzza]

Yes, that's correct.

- Everything is tracked inside Liberty.
- No Credit Card machines.
- No extra fees
- No per swipe

There is one caveat...isn't there always. The balances are kept in your database. If for whatever reason, you have an entire system crash and you lose all your data and you have no backup. It will be very difficult to figure out any outstanding balances. Moral of the story...do backups! I know you all do anyway.

In the future, we may offer a service of backing up gift card balances to our servers. We are evaluating that as an option.

[Ed DiRuzza]

Thanks everyone for your input on the gift card feature. Our developers have finished coding the next release of Liberty (3.6a) and we are putting together an update package and testing it thoroughly. We really hope to have it out to everyone within the next few weeks.

The gift card feature will be in this release.

It will support both bar coding and magnetic stripe as well as using the stickers you can buy for the rewards module on our web site.

Here's a quick video to show how the gift card feature will work within Liberty.

Gift Card Video (http://resaleworld.com/videos/dean/2009-10-28_1215.swf)

The results from our survey are also in. The most popular gift card styles are -

G, E, O, I, Q, R and S.

T, K, F and H were a distant second. The others got a couple of votes.

After talking to many Gift Card manufacturers about trying to reduce cost for smaller quantities, the best way to produce, let's say 100 - 250 cards per store would be to select one of the 6 or 7 generic gift cards and print the store name on the front of the card. The name would be in a large font and you would probably have the choice to print 2 or three lines of other text on the front of the card. Printing a logo would probably be a real pain because the logo would be one color - black. The back of the card would have all the terms and conditions of the gift card.

We will be offering 6 styles of cards on our storefront very shortly. We just wanted to make sure that you understood how the gift cards will work before it is released so you can plan accordingly.

If you don't want to use these generic type cards, you will most likely have to get them made on a custom basis. You will have to order around 500 - 1000 to get any kind of price break.

If you want to get a quote on a custom gift certificate card done, there are a lot of sites.

We've been talking with Tele-Pak (http://www.tele-pak.com). They are a big company and have a wide variety of products.

From their site, for example, a quote of 500 cards, using PVC 30 mil cards, 4 colors front, 1 color back, bar coding and numbering would cost around $530 or about $1.06 per card. This would be all that you would need. Only problem is, you spend $500 up front.

If you have any additional questions, let me know.

[klassykidz]

Looks good Ed. I like the flexibility. Thanks for the video too, makes it crystal clear!

[JARREDS]

Looks great!
Everyone at resaleworld is great!

Pssstt..
Is that the new POS Module too???

[bargain betty]

Hi Ed,
Any idea when this will be released? I'm getting ready to change credit card processing companies and would like to drop my gift card processor at the same time.
Thanks
DeAnn

[klassykidz]

It is part of 3.6a, and it works great! I am "fiddeling" the Beta version of it now. It is extremely flexible and east to adapt.

If you are changing credit card processing, I strongly suggest you consider Global through X-Charge. The integration with POS saves so much time and with a card swipe connected to your computer it is as eay as taking cash!

[bargain betty]

I knew it was coming, I just would like to have an idea when this will be released

[Ed DiRuzza]

Can't give you an exact date, however, we have stopped making changes to the 3.6a code and it is now being tested in a few stores. Once we get back a clean bill of health, we will send out.

I am as anxious as you. It will be shortly as we are trying to get out before the heavy gift card season arrives upon us.

As far as credit card processing, I hope you are switching to X-Charge. There is a new integration module for them in this release. It's very clean and more importantly, gives you the option of going to a signature pad should you choose to go down that line. Very nice...!

[Support Team]

Kris:

Currently, 3.6a is available as a beta download. We don't have it published to My Resaleworld as it's still in the beta testing phase. This is a pretty significant release in that, credit card processing has been completely overhauled. We want to make sure this is properly vetted before we make it live.

Outside of that, all the other changes are stable, including Gift Cards. If you're interested, I can add you to the beta forum here on our Message Board. We ask that our beta testers provide feedback during testing, so if that's something you'd like to participate in, let me know!

Here are the Release Notes for the upcoming 3.6a release...

https://my.resaleworld.com:444/releasenotes/

Issue #6368 outlines the new Gift Card changes. You can use cards from pretty much anywhere! We've made the Gift Card support very open - you get a text field that allows you to type, scan or swipe a card number into it...

<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/dean/2009-11-19_1044.png"/>

Liberty then stores that Gift Card # in its database...

<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/dean/2009-11-19_1047.png"/>

<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/dean/2009-11-19_1047_001.png"/>

In my example, I just typed 9999888877776666 into that field. So this could be used for paper gift cards/certificates you've printed out, each with a unique number and without a bar code or magnetic strip. You can also scan a bar code that's been printed on the back of your gift card or if your card has a magnetic stripe, you can swipe it into this field.

Once Liberty has stored that Gift Card #, it tracks the initial amount assigned and each transaction (whether it be a transaction that depletes OR replenishes the card), thus keeping track of the available balance.

We're working with a few partners and we're looking into various Gift Card solutions that Resaleworld can offer.

As far as X-Charge, we've been utilizing X-Charge for credit card processing for quite some time. X-Charge has made some changes to their programming interface, which allows applications such as ours to become PCI compliant. We're also right on track with signature capture and it's already up and running in-house. It's a pretty deep feature, so we won't be including it in the 3.6a release. 3.6a will bring in support for the latest version of X-Charge (all Liberty users will need to be on X-Charge 7.0 or above when the new version of Liberty is released), which will set the stage for the upcoming signature capture enhancement.

Let us know if this helps or if you have any other questions!