RetailT Debenhams revealed its plans last autumn when
renewed its contract with PrePay Solutions for its corporate and consumer prepaid programmes. The partnership has introduced a range of products from traditional gift and loyalty cards through to more complex and innovative virtual solutions and travel money cards. “Our partnership with PrePay Solutions has
developed significantly since we launched the UK gift card programme. Their speed, level of expertise, understanding and ability to translate our designs and intentions into prepaid products has remained consistent and we look forward to the continuation of this drive over the term of this contract,” commented Nancy Ingham, head of store operations at Debenhams. Home improvement and garden centre giant
B&Q is building a new revenue channel with a business-to-business (B2B) e-gift card programme powered by digital gifting company CashStar. The retailer began working with CashStar in 2012, selling e-gift cards directly to consumers. The partners reported that the initial programme
generated 100% incremental sales, particularly during the festive season. Based on this success, B&Q recently announced it was expanding its e-gift card programme to its B2B partners. “Our CashStar powered e-gift programme
is a major revenue generator and competitive differentiator for B&Q, so adding the B2B platform was an easy decision,” said Stuart Lawrence, business services manager at B&Q. The benefits of B&Q’s CashStar B2B programme
demonstrate key considerations for adding any type of payment systems to support new retail revenue streams. Making B&Q e-gift Cards available to third-party distribution channels via the CashStar application programming interface (API) provides B&Q partners with a web interface that makes the ordering process simple, quick and secure. Partners can enter recipient information one at a time, upload a spreadsheet of addresses, or simply order quantities of e-gift cards of specific denominations, while B&Q retains complete control over all financial transactions and customer relationships. Lawrence added that the move would
enable B&Q’s partners to build on existing customer relationships and create new ones with personalised e-gift cards. “Our partners will now get to experience the ease of delivery and ROI [return on investment] benefits that we have seen over the past year,” he concluded.
www.retailtechnology.co.uk ROUNDUP
Retail Technology highlights the money-related trends likely to shape electronic point-of-sale (EPoS), online, mobile, loyalty and integration investments throughout 2014
CUSTOMERS POS
Investigate self-service or mobile-assisted checkout options instore
Self-checkout has long been the most widely adopted
instore technology used in retail stores, cited by 71% of consumers (Forrester Research, 2006)
SPEED Customers want fast
checkout experiences, online and instore
Almost a quarter (23%) of consumers would abandon their online shopping basket if a form took too long to fill in (Postcode Anywhere
North American consumer survey, December 2011)
OPERATIONS MOBILE
Retailers can use mobile PoS to queue bust or equip staff with tablets to assist in or save a sale
64% of shoppers cited a
better instore experience when retail staff were using mobile technology
(Omnico survey of 1,344 UK consumers, August 2013)
CASH
Balance electronic payment systems investment with cash handling costs
In 2009 the average credit card transaction cost 34p,
compared with 8.5p for a debit card and 2.1p for cash. Card
payments accounted for 76% of retail spending, but smaller stores often have a higher
proportion of cash sales (British Retail Consortium)
TECHNOLOGY
CLOUD COMPUTING Streamline sales
management, payment processing and reconciliation
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of retailers plan to move to cloud-based PoS systems within the next six years (Epson Retail Study, 2013, Coleman Parkes)
CARD PAYMENTS New card processing
services can reduce costs for smaller businesses
A survey of 1,000 small UK
businesses found that just 19% of micro-businesses – firms with less than 10 employees – currently accept card payments (Intuit, June 2013)
MONEY
echnology
Winter 2014
39
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