2010 is indeed proving to be the year of the e-card. CashStar and DimpleDough have made multiple product announcements about their virtual card solutions in recent months, and now Giftango Corporation has joined the party.

The Portland, OR–based virtual card company announced today that it has signed on 35 national brands and eight incentive houses in its bid to expand further into the incentive and recognition online gift card segment. The brands span multiple categories and include Amazon, Cabela’s, JCPenney, Lowe’s, and Nike, and the incentive houses include Madison Performance Group and BI.

“We’ve moved into the incentive side over time. About a year ago we built out our services and grew to a point where we could provide a more robust solution,” Mike Fletcher, VP of marketing for Giftango, told Incentive. “As we were talking to national merchants about services from B to C Web-based sales, it kept coming up that they had a virtual card and were trying to get into incentive channels, so why not do something with them?”

David Nelson, the company's CEO, underscored the new platform's flexibility. “We started to research the space and recognized there was a lot of complexity to the process that incentive companies go through, and we could build something that removed costs and added to the customer experience. So we’ve been listening to our client relationships over this time and been in stealth mode while building out the new solution. The platform we have built allows Giftango to provide a very flexible solution for our partners in the incentive and loyalty space. We have been fortunate to work with several successful incentive companies to tailor aspects of our solution that help reduce the costs associated with traditional gift cards, as well as integrate with existing retail systems.”

The new Giftango product has been customized for the incentive and reward space with a focus on how to help companies more easily manage their programs. “We have a solution that plugs into an existing platform, with one central administration area where clients can manage all virtual cards from one location,” said Fletcher. “All reporting, tracking, and messaging for programs are specific to the programs themselves and built around the specific business needs of the incentive company. You can have one hundred different programs managed from one administration center. They’re not just ordering a card.”

New eCard Functionality: Regifting and Video

Not unlike other virtual gift cards in the market, companies use a single platform to manage their programs and orders, and can customize Giftango eCards with personalized messages, selection of card design, and value. Cards are also available on mobile devices. Detailed tracking systems also are in place to make sure companies can tell if a recipient hasn’t yet received their reward. Clients save money by not having to store and ship plastic, and recipients get instant delivery of their reward. Fletcher estimates that clients have saved from 25 to 50 percent by using virtual cards over plastic.

What’s new is the ability for recipients to easily regift their online cards—there’s a toolbox with the option right next to the card as you’re customizing it—and for companies to track that information.

“Regifting has always been of interest to incentive houses,” said Fletcher. “Consumers can redeem points, then regift directly from the card to friends or family members. We’ve seen it included as part of a purchase process on other solutions, but we’ve never seen anyone else putting regifting functionality right on the card itself, including what day [the user regifted it].”

Merchants also can include a video on their cards, which Nike does. “Video is very new, and we believe we’re the first ones out there with video on a national gift card,” said Fletcher.

Next Wave

It seems the market will continue to grow, especially given that research shows 70 percent of users will choose an online gift card if given the option.

“No doubt this is a watershed year for virtual gift cards,” said Nelson. “We’ve been scrambling to keep up with the interest. You’ve probably seen the news from Amazon—one hundred-forty ebooks sold for every one hundred hard copies. That happened in about thirty-three months. Take that same equation and apply it toward gift cards and in one to two years, you see the scope of where we’re going." This page is protected by Copyright laws. Do Not Copy