Darien, CT (PRWEB) September 17, 2014
Digital gift cards are quickly becoming the most popular item for consumer purchases due to their convenience and instant delivery. Gift cards are a huge source of year-round revenue. And yet, big box retailers win the largest piece of these sales, leaving a huge gap. Tens of billions of dollars are spent at the larger retail outlets, mainly because of their widespread availability. GiftFly closes this gap by taking any business from local to national in seconds.
As of August 12th, Facebook ended their Gifts program. Many consumers found this to be an easy-to-use solution for their gifting needs, while businesses saw it as a powerful opportunity to increase their branding. At any rate, the departure of Facebook Gifts left a void in the world of social and mobile gift card sales.
GiftFly to the rescue.
“Now more than ever, customers will want to buy gifts from their favorite local merchants. We know our friends and family will really love these places. Now, any small business can compete with the big boys, right from a smartphone, tablet or computer. Distance does not matter. In 60 seconds, a merchant can be “live” selling an eGift card that any customer can personalize, purchase and deliver instantly. Merchants get paid the next day,” says Cory Perkins, CEO and Founder of GiftFly.
The premise is simple. GiftFly allows anyone, anywhere to give a gift card to virtually any local business. First, a customer chooses a friend via Facebook or email and designs their personalized gift card with any amount of money (up to $ 250). Then, after finding the business, they can send the online gift card to their friend’s Facebook account, email address, or mobile device in seconds.
Once the GiftFly is received, customers can easily redeem it at participating merchants using a QR Code on their smartphone, or through funds deposited into their PayPal or bank account.
“We wanted to create the most efficient way for shoppers to send and use gift cards while helping out small businesses dealing with the hassle of plastic cards,” says Natasha Miller, Director of Marketing of GiftFly.
Two types of cards are available: the cash card, which goes directly to the customer’s PayPal or bank account, and the merchant card, which is directly deposited into the bank account of the merchant on the next business day.
All of this is done for the lowest cost available to the business- plastic cards and expensive upfront fees are replaced by a completely free app. The GiftFly app lets employees scan codes, check the sales history of gift cards and even refund cards.
Once a business owner signs up at http://www.GiftFly.com/merchants, even more tools are available. These include real-time sales information, the capability to manage discounts and refunds, print signage and create their own promotions. The welcome kit comes with a sign, window decals, magnets and pens to help promote their new, 24/7 product.
GiftFly also collects the email addresses of gift card senders and receivers, in an attempt to maximize social media and email marketing potential. A GiftFly merchant can access customer information by logging into their dashboard and download the contact list to add to or build their customer database.
GiftFly was created as a solution to the largely broken plastic gift card industry: although gift cards have been the #1 gift in the U.S. for the past seven years according to the National Retail Federation, up to 60% of gift cards go unused each year. Since the explosion of plastic gift cards in 1995, that equals $ 403 billion in merchandising opportunities lost.
Combine those statistics with the rise of digital wallets, digital debit cards, PayPal, bank account apps and other mobile solutions and it is fairly clear— plastic gift cards are on their way out.
About GiftFly
GiftFly.com was founded in early 2012 with the mission to replace plastic gift cards with the best digital gift on earth – a custom online gift card for the local places you love. GiftFly is based in Darien, CT and is privately funded. GiftFly is available in Europe as http://www.extrabooking.com.