Deal with new gift card retailer to boost gotalk phonecard sales

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 02 October 2007 02:30

IT Industry - Deals

 
According to The Financial Times, Blackhawk's prepaid Gift Card Stores have created "an entirely new multimillion dollar category segment" in US retail. Blackhawk now sells cards to more than 165 million customers a week through its up front display stands in grocery chains, mass market retailers, convenience stores, drugstores and specialty retailers. Blackhawk has stands in more than 83,000 locations in the US including supermarkets and drug stores.

According to gotalk, the market for prepaid gift cards, while one of the fastest growing retail sectors in North America, is still considered to be underdeveloped  in Australia but turned over $200 million last year.

According to Blackhawk APAC managing director Stewart Rigby, while many retailers and other organisations have been selling their own gift cards for years, the Blackhawk aggregated solution opens them up with a completely new channel opportunity, in which hundreds of retail outlets across Australia will sell their gift cards.
 
"Major retailers will have their products and services available via 'Gift Cards Stores' – stand alone kiosks in thousands of retail sites across Australia. Customers may now buy retailers gift cards in a grocery store; or local newsagency – without the retailer having to carry stock or even give up floor space to display product they never envisaged they would ever sell," Rigby said.