The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007 - (Page 24)

PAYMENTS November 15 · 2007 - 24 It’s a Wrap for Gift Cards from page 1 that match the gift card design, with a customizable messaging option. Purchasers can also choose from more than 20 different card designs and select their own custom denomination at our re-launched online gift card destination, Discovergiftcard.com.” Visa is trying to get a piece of the booming market for gift cards by launching a service that will let consumers personalize cards with photos and engraved messages. Beginning on Nov. 15, users can visit GiftCardLab.com and personalize their own Visa gift cards. The cards cost $5.95 each and can be loaded with $10 to $250 of value. Another site, Cardways.com, charges $4.50 plus delivery fees for consumers to personalize gift cards from retailers like Circuit City and music service Napster. American Express, which claims to be the fastest-growing prepaid bank card business, allows businesses to print up to 1,400 cards with customized messages. processed $5 billion in sales transactions at more than 145,000 retail locations in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the UK. One way that InComm supports merchants is by suggesting cards that will appeal to their customer base. Sales advisors emphasize “holiday speciﬁc placement” with theme displays in sections of the stores with high levels of trafﬁc. “Merchants are realizing the importance of strategic placement of the gift card malls in their stores,” said Lori Moher, Senior Vice President and General Manager-Gift Cards, InComm. Retail partners, such as CVS and Target, see the beneﬁt of consistent rack placement in every store, and the importance of advertising throughout the store to draw customers to the gift card mall. “There is more awareness on the part of the merchant to drive trafﬁc to the gift cards through placement and consistency, and by having the right assortment of cards in the stores,” noted Moher. Moher named several new holiday gift card categories to watch: online, music, and gaming. One of InComm’s newest partners is Amazon, which has launched a gift card for online shoppers. Janet Sancho, Senior Vice President of Blackstone, a distributor that sells cards through RELOAD CAPACITY $10,000 limit $10,000 nationwide $10,000 nationwide Reloadable Not reloadable Minimum age of teen is 13 years Reloadable nationwide - Safeway and Ace Cash Express $25 - $500 Not reloadable Not reloadable $500 $500 limit $2,500 limit Reloadable at Participating Dealers $25, $50, $100 $10-$250 No overdraft fees or interest charges Unique design, can be customized Premium holiday gift cards with matching greeting cards; 20 holiday designs Customization options and greeting cards that match the gift card design, with customizable message option Credit Bureau reporting electronic kiosks, terminals, and register systems, pointed out that retailers tend to drive sales of holiday gift cards in several ways -- convenience, reliability, location, and the placement of promotional materials throughout a store. “As we all know, convenience is an integral part of the purchasing decision. Customers tend to purchase items from locations within a 15 mile radius from their home or business. Reliability is also a key purchasing factor,” observed Sancho. As for positioning, Sancho advises: “Cards should be placed at high-trafﬁc volume areas within a retail location, allowing for the maximum number of potential customers to view and make an informed decision about which card to purchase.” She adds, “Retailers should partner with Category Providers who properly stock their inventory and merchandise their stores for a successful gift card program.” a new distribution channel with CVS and Sam’s Club, working with InComm on the Vanilla gift card. There will be multiple theme cards with different graphics and messages for different occasions and holiday themes for Christmas and Chanukah. Last year, gift cards proved popular as six in ten people were “thrilled” to receive one. -Discover In support of the coming holiday gift card activities, MasterCard has developed a radio merchandising campaign that names retail partners and is a call to action. A similar campaign has been incorporated through print and online advertising. There’s no doubt that consumers will answer the call. It looks like it’s going to be a season of good cheer for gift cards. Arlene Hauben is a practicing journalist for over 25 years and has written for a number of publications in South Florida. She can be reached at asandra44@yahoo.com. Priceless Campaign MasterCard sponsors a priceless promotional campaign to inform the consumer about different aspects of gift giving. Ron Hynes, Vice President, MasterCard Prepaid Worldwide, said, “This initiative is about differentiating our product for our partners and retailers through packaging and pricing.” MasterCard has opened VALUE Up to $10,000 Store Placement Helps Sales Specializing in the third-party gift card market, InComm brings together retailers with leading brand name gift cards. In 2006, the company STORED VALUE CARD AccountNow Visa All-Access MC All-Access Visa Baby Phat Visa Blackstone MasterCard Instant Issue Gift Card Buxx Card (Pay Jr.) Capital One Prepaid Visa DeLuxeCard Discover Card Discover Gift Card EuforaPrepaid MC FastCard Prepaid Visa Gift2Go Visa Holiday MasterCard Gift Card Mio Money Prepaid MasterCard PayJr Visa RushCard Visa Western Union FEES SPECIAL FEATURES Other fees apply No overdraft fees, no bank account required Free savings accounts, instant transfers, direct deposit, account alerts Stylish design – Russell Simmons $9.95 Activation, $4.95 Monthly No annual fee, service charges Up to $9.95 Monthly; $9.95 One Time $19.95 Activation;$2.95 Inactive $3.95 Activation $4.95 One Time, $3.95 monthly $5.95 Monthly (free if direct depost); Free start-up $5.95 for $25 to $250 No fee to send card. Fees for processing and premium gift cards No cost to send processing fee and other fees Membership fee $9.95 One Time $3.95-$5.95 Depending on amount Depends on order $4.95-$12 Monthly Yes Activation and other fees $7.95 for $252 to $500 $20 min - $2,500 max Buyer must be 18 years old $20-$250 Choose your own design and message - Reduced pricing for large orders Customized with company logo, embossed message, 12 unique designs Use for long distance tel. For $.06 cents/minute; targeted for teenagers; monitor transactions online Parental control and tracking. Teens can design their own card Not reloadable Yes Parents can add funds $5-2500 Reloadable at Western Union Locations Direct Deposit your paycheck Payments in Brief NBO Systems, Inc., a developer of prepaid gift card solutions, has signed a licensing agreement to utilize the American Express Incentive Services’ (AEIS) DirectSpend process for its array of gift card programs. The patented DirectSpend process strategically directs cardholder spend to a merchant or group of merchants. NBO will leverage the AEIS process (U.S. Patent Numbers 5,689,100 and 5,956,695) to offer DirectSpend prepaid gift cards to its customer base. NBO provides prepaid gift cards to malls and shopping centers along with corporate and consumer incentives, concept cards and gift card fulﬁllment. AEIS - www.aeis.com NBO Systems, Inc. - www.nbo.com Fidelity Express, a provider of secure electronic walk-in bill payment processing, says its internal tests of Cyphermint’s mobile solution linked to Fidelity’s “XPressPay” were successful. Fidelity’s XPressPay Mobile will enable consumers to pay bills using their cell phones or other mobile devices. When a payment is due, the customer can receive an alert and with a single click, they can pay the bill and receive conﬁrmation without having to enter or store any personal information on their cell phone. Fidelity Express will process the bill payment transactions on its financial services platform, Fidelity XpressPay. Fidelity’s XPressPay Mobile, powered by PayCash, will also include a stored value card and electronic “wallet” account that will be tied to the cell phone so that bills can be paid from pre-loaded funds on the account. Cyphermint - www.cyphermint.com Fidelity Express - www.ﬁdelityexpress.com Discover Financial Services has signed an issuer processor agreement with TSYS. Under the terms of the agreement, TSYS, a processor for bankcard issuers and merchant acquirers, will begin processing prepaid and credit card transactions on the Discover Network, a business unit of Discover Financial Services. The agreement will provide issuers with more options in choosing a preferred processor on the Discover Network. TSYS - www.tsys.com Discover Financial Services - www.discoverfinancial.com Springbok Services has implemented an employee ownership program. In the month of October, all permanent Springbok Services employees were awarded stock options in the company. Through the new Springbok Services Employee Ownership plan, employees are now empowered to lead the company toward its revenue goals and its overall success. Each employee received a gift of company stock options that have a vesting period shorter than most comparable plans, according to Sprinbok. Springbok Services - www.springbokservices.com SellingSource, a provider of marketing and technology solutions for online businesses serving the specialty ﬁnance industry, has promoted Curtis Pope to Executive VP of Business Development. In this role, he will spearhead the Company’s business development efforts, including identifying potential deals and strategic partnerships. Pope will also continue to oversee SellingSource’s call center operations to support clients’ direct mail and direct response television (DRTV) programs. For the past three years, Pope has served as SellingSource’s VP of Business Development, in which he implemented a number of specialty ﬁnance programs for clients. SellingSource - www.sellingsource.com http://Discovergiftcard.com http://GiftCardLab.com http://www.springbokservices.com http://www.tsys.com http://www.discoverfinancial.com http://www.cyphermint.com http://www.aeis.com http://www.sellingsource.com http://www.nbo.com http://www.fidelityexpress.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007

The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007 Online Wireless Recharge It's a Wrap for Gift Cards Contents GENERAL PREPAID Prepaid 101: Merchandising Regulatory Rundown: Wireless Broadband, LNP, Internet Taxes, and Stored Value Legislation Guest Editorial: Honest Minutes: "The Times They Are A-Changing" 5 Minutes With Daniel Neal, CEO of kajeet The Legal Line Prepaid Wireless Roundup WIRELESS Wireless in Brief 011 Mobile Launches Mobile International Dialing Hop-on Adds GSM Phone to Product Line Virgin Mobile USA Launches New Services kajeet Adds to Handset Line MarketStar Publishes Mobile Phone Usage Study Nokia and Cellfire Team Up Verizon Selects Firethorn iVisionMobile Launches Messaging Platform Sprint Expands "Unlimited by Boost" INTERNATIONAL Spot Rates NOMAD Brings MasterCard EMS to Europe R&M Finds Potential in Africa International in Brief TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY Caveat Emptor When Negotiating IP Licensing T&T in Brief MySpace and Skype Ink Deal Octastic Announces New Media Gateway DSP Pactolus Selected by Global Crossing Tadiran Announces New Loyalty Incentive Program Oblio Telecom Launches New Prepaid Products Total Call Enhances Prepaid Calling Cards PAYMENTS A Gift Card Technology Guide Pinnacle and PaySpot Roll Out POS/Prepaid Solution TIO Networks Announces Membership Program TransFund$ Partners with TruckersB2B AMR Finds Retailers Returning to Main Street Payments in Brief Diebold to Offer Prepaid Gift Card Technology InComm to Sell nFinanSe Discover Cards iVisionMobile Offers Retailers Mobile Payments i2c to Offer Stored Value Webinars Mobilians Starts U.S. Mobile Payments Operation NetSpend Increases Savings Program Interest EXTRAS Classifieds Contact Us Our Advertisers

The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007

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