Gift Card Program

A customized merchant gift card program can offer you a great opportunity to increase sales by increasing customer loyalty and enhancing your business brand. Merchant gift cards can be loaded with any dollar amount, and work like credit cards. However, these prepaid gift cards generally can only be used at your business.

Choose re-loadable merchant gift cards to help create loyalty with new customers. Once customers discover your product or service, they can reload the card using their own money as often as they wish.

With a merchant gift card program, you decide on the look and feel of your custom gift cards. You choose the right image and the right words for your customers.

Merchant Gift Card Program Benefits include:

* Enhance cash flow - prepaid gift cards are purchased prior to customers receiving their goods and services from you. You can re-invest these dollars back into your business.
* Brand building and loyalty - custom gift cards can be a great source of advertising for your business, and they can be reloadable, so that, after the funds are used, customers are encouraged to continue buying from you.
* Eliminate cashback - the balance remains on the prepaid gift card. It can be issued for returned merchandise, thereby reducing fraud. Merchant gift cards can only be activated by swiping through a POS terminal.
* Get New Customers - Using merchant gift cards as presents (e.g. Birthdays, Christmas, and Weddings) is more popular than ever before. Offering a gift card program can help bring new customers to your business, thereby increasing sales.
* Simplify Operations - Merchant gift cards are easy for your customers to use and easy for your employees to issue and redeem, as they work similar to credit cards.

Charge Card Sytems Gift Card Program is a cash-generating product that doubles as a miniature billboard in your customer's wallet. Card balances decline as the card is used, encouraging repeat visits and limiting cash refunds.

Loyalty & Membership Programs
Acquire customers and retain them, that's the goal. Now you can automatically keep track of point balances and transaction activity for a multitude of rewards and incentive programs.

Merchandise Credits
Cards can be loaded with the exact value of a product return for store credit. Declining balance keeps cash in store by limiting refunds.

Advertising & Promotion
The marketing applications of stored-value cards are as wide open as the imagination - from electronic coupons to co-branded cards paid for by one or more merchant suppliers.

How our Gift Card Program Works:

Sales
Merchants use in-store displays to merchandise Gift Cards much like they would any small impulse-buy product by the register with counter signs and colorful card hangers. A customer purchases a Gift Card with cash, check or credit card for any dollar amount desired. The amount purchased is recorded as stored value or prepaid in the host database.

Redemptions
The Cardholder presents the gift card for full or partial payment of a purchase. The merchant swipes the card through their POS terminal for authorization and transmission of transaction data on the host platform. The card's magnetic stripe identifies the card number and merchant location for which the card has been issued.

Reload Incentives
The cardholder can purchase additional value or reload the card for any amount by phone. The merchant can offer an incentive to customers to encourage card reloading. For example: increase the customer's stored-value amount by 20% (i.e. a $50 reload is recorded as $60 in stored value for the cardholder).

Data Processing
The stored value card system operates in real time as a closed loop debit network. Transactions, such as card activation, sales, voids and balance inquiries from the point of sale, are transmitted to the Data Center. The transaction request is fulfilled or authorized, data is captured in the merchant / client database and an approval or requested information is transmitted via the POS terminal. The POS printer produces a paper receipt of each transaction'including the card balance for the merchant and the customer.

Most merchants can use their existing POS equipment for Pre-Paid Gift Card Programs

Stored Value applications run on the VeriFone Omni 3300, 3350, 3740 & 3750, Tranz 330, 380, & 460, the Nurit 2085 and 3000 terminals, Ingenico Elite 510, and the Thales Talento. Hypercom applications are processor specific. PC Charge, a windows-based credit card software application, can process all of your credit card needs as well as all Stored Value transactions (PC Charge Perks adds Stored Value processing to PC-based systems). Windows-based applications for PosiTouch and Micros are curently under development.

We have a touch-screen capable application that can process all gift card transactions while installed in any windows computer or POS System.

If a smaller footprint is desired, a Verifone 380x2, capable of housing two separate applications (i.e. credit card and gift card) is a viable solution. If you are currently using a Verifone terminal and printer, a Stored Value terminal can be added to the existing configurations using a Y connecting cable. The use of a printer is recommended for production of receipts and reports.

The advantages and benefits of our Gift Card program are many, both for the merchants and their customers. By ensuring both parties are happy with the gift card system, universal acceptance and approval is promoted.

Other Gift Card program highlights include:

• Cash Management
• Customer Loyalty
• Customized Surveys
• Customized Statements
• Consumer Buying Patterns
• Easy to Use
• Customer Tracking
• Increased Impulse Buying
• Enhances Merchandising
• Replaces Paper Certificates
• Increased Sales
• Improved Record Keeping
• Freedom to Choose

Since our Gift Card program is so flexible, there are many uses and benefits associated with it's use.

Some applications include:

• Gift Certificates
• Pre-paid Programs
• Discount Cards
• Preferred Customer Programs
• Employee Incentive Programs
• Reward Programs