Stay connected
Subscribe to our Inside WEX blog and follow us on social media for the insider view on everything WEX, from payments innovation to what it means to be a WEXer.
"*" indicates required fields
We have talked recently on the rise of omnicommerce in business-to-business transactions—allowing purchasing departments to complete all or part of their transactions online—but with the holiday season around the corner, the omnicommerce idea will be a big topic for merchants and one of the leading indicators is that of digital or e-gift cards.
The combination of ecommerce, m-commerce, mobile payments, and brick and mortar stores, the consumer-facing omnicommerce world includes one vastly different concept than that of its B2B counterpart: The consumer-to-consumer gifting process, which leads to the use of gift cards.
In reality however, many retailers have found complexity and pitfalls, according to a recent survey by e-Gift Card provider CashStar, which for the last five years has studied adoption and implementation of digital gift cards by brands—ranking brands by their ease of purchase (buyer side) and ease of reception and use (recipient side).
Related: Mobile Payment Adoption: A Global Snapshot
Out of 75 possible points, The Home Depot led in the digital gift card arena, followed by Sephora, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Ulta Cosmetics, Amazon.com, and Best Buy.
Among these top e-gift card providers, six key strengths stood out:
With mobile wallets becoming an important factor, this seems to be a leading issue for providers heading into the future, as adding a digital gift card to a phone while making purchases whether online or in store will be the ultimate test of omnicommerce availability.
Related: Customer Loyalty Programs Sweeten the Mobile Payment Value Proposition
Other areas for improvement, according to the study, are social media, consistency and ease of access, and process gaps [communication, speed of delivery, specification of where the gift card goes (directly to recipient or to recipient via buyer), etc.].
Subscribe to our Inside WEX blog and follow us on social media for the insider view on everything WEX, from payments innovation to what it means to be a WEXer.
"*" indicates required fields