This topic discussion recently came up on our Prepaid Professionals LinkedIn Group and it's one that should be on the mind of prepaid issuers in the healthcare industry. Where do we go from here?
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For those of you who missed the chance to view the live web seminar yesterday here's your chance to view it at your own leisure. Enjoy the hour long seminar!
Watch the archive
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By David Stone, CEO of CashStar
This past holiday season retailers in all verticals turned to gift cards to drive sales, and the results of those sales are no more evident than in the months of January and February when customers return to redeem their cards. In particular, many retailers took the plunge into digital gifting this past holiday season and leveraged these new channels to engage with their consumers and to drive incremental sales
CashStar recently aggregated the data from tens of thousands of customers purchasing millions of dollars worth of gift cards on our digital gifting and incentives platform this holiday season. The data showed that online gift cards proved to be a profitable last minute sales tool for retailers. In fact, Christmas Eve was the highest selling day of the year, with 39 percent being purchased after 6pm Eastern.
Online gift card sales increased more than twelve-fold (1129 percent) between Black Friday (November 27) and Christmas Eve. Sales increased 682 percent between the first week of December and Christmas Eve.
Other interesting results from the 2009 holiday season included:
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Ky Tran-Trong
Federal Reserve Board
Ky Tran-Trong is a Counsel in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs of the Federal Reserve Board. He works on regulations implementing the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Truth in Savings Act, the consumer financial privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Before joining the Board, he was with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and clerked for the Honorable Vanessa Ruiz at the D.C. Court of Appeals. He received his bachelor's degree from Duke University, his law degree from William & Mary School of Law, and his LL.M. in corporate and commercial law from the University of London. He is admitted to practice law in New York.
Ky Tran-Tron will be speaking at Prepaid Expo USA 2010 this February. Take some time to view our speaker line-up below. Hope to see you in Las Vegas this February!
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Philip Lehman Keitel
Industry Specialist, Payment Cards Center
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Philip presently works as an industry specialist in the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. His main responsibilities include researching and analyzing emerging issues in consumer credit and payments- particularly legal and regulatory issues, giving speeches, and organizing workshops and conferences. Licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, he is also a member of the American Bar Association.
Here are some of his recent publications and speeches:
"Prepaid Card Industry Dynamics and Criminals' Use of Prepaid Cards, speech given at the Money Transmitter Regulators Assoc. annual meeting in Stowe, VT, September 3, 2009.
"The Credit CARD Act of 2009 and Prepaid Cards," Payment Cards Center Note, August 2009.
Philip Lehman Keitel will be speaking at Prepaid Expo USA 2010 this February. Take some time to view our speaker line-up below. Hope to see you in Las Vegas this February!
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David E. Tryder
Manager Interactive & Relationship Marketing
Dunkin’ Donuts
Beginning in 2003, David has helped Dunkin grow its cardholder base by creating a multichannel experience for cardholders which encompasses e-mail, online, and in-store interactions. Here's a recent interview with Target Marketing in which David explains what tactics and techniques Dunkin has used to lure cardholders back to Dunkin' Donuts.
Also, don't miss this interview with eMarketer where David explains the growing number of fans joining the Dunkin' Donuts facebook fan page everyday.
David E. Tryder will be speaking at the Prepaid Expo USA 2010 this February. Take some time to view our speaker line-up below. Hope to see you in Las Vegas this February!
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Robert L. Johnson
Founder & Chairman, The RLJ Companies
Robert L. Johnson is the Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies, an innovative business network that owns or holds interests in a diverse portfolio of companies in the banking/financial services, real estate, hospitality, professional sports, film production, gaming and automotive industries. In July 2007, Johnson was named by USA Today as one of the 25 most influential business leaders of the past 25 years.
In 2009, The RLJ Companies announced top ranking of several of its portfolio companies in the "2009 B.E. 100s List," published annually by Black Enterprise magazine.
Prior to forming The RLJ Companies, Mr. Johnson was founder and chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation's first and leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news, sports and public affairs programming for the African American audience. Under Mr. Johnson's leadership, BET became the first African American-owned company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2001, Mr. Johnson sold BET to Viacom for approximately $3 billion and remained the Chief Executive Officer through 2006.
Robert L. Johnson will be speaking at the Prepaid Expo USA 2010 this February. Take some time to view our speaker line-up below. Hope to see you in Las Vegas this February!
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Bio Courtesy of The RJL Companies
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Scott Scovel is the General Manager in charge of the development and management of new financial services division. Some of his major responsibilities at Univision include P&L management, product development, establishing distribution, creating marketing approach, forming partnerships, managing vendors, optimizing customer experience, and driving optimal long-term profitability. Recently, Univision announced a strategic alliance with MasterCard Worldwide to introduce two new prepaid financial services, which include the Univision Prepaid MasterCard Card® and the Univision MasterCard Gift Card®. Scott was heavily involved in the launch of this new offering.
Scott Scovel will be speaking at the Prepaid Expo USA 2010 this February. Take some time to view our speaker line-up below. Hope to see you in Las Vegas this February!
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According to this article in bizjournals FiCentive has formed a partnership with a Mexican package and mail delivery company called Redpack to issue a line of prepaid debit cards that consumers can use to send money to friends and family living in Mexico.
FiCentive is taking this chance to gain a percentage of the unbanked market in Mexico. Sonia Bracamontes, sales and marketing director for Redpack mentions:
“This card program is designed to be of great value to the underserved market of the unbanked and underbanked Mexican community in the United States. We believe the Redpack brand is well-known and is trusted within this community and will therefore add significant credibility to the program.”
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This post from PR-Inside highlights how Mercator's 6th Annual Network Branded Prepaid Market Assessment shows that prepaid has been growing during the economic downturn and will continue to grow after as well.
Tim Sloane, Vice President of Client Services and Director of Mercator Advisory Group's Prepaid Advisory Service mentions:
"Mercator Advisory Group believes the prepaid industry will continue to show growth in 2009. However, being in the right channel with the right product is becoming critical to the growth of prepaid products and represents a significant volume opportunity for issuers. It is clear to Mercator that no other payments market is riding out the current economic downturn as effectively as prepaid and I can't think on any better payments market to be in during a recession."
Make sure to check out the post for some highlights of the full report.
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According to this article in PR.com Intercash has launched a new prepaid card design program which will be expected to be released in late 2009. Patrick Seguev, CEO of Intercash Europe mentions:
“We have been working hard to meet the demands of the prepaid industry and have come up with solutions that are until now unseen in this industry. With our new card’s features we have a product that is not only cost-effective, but will meet and exceed any merchant’s needs.”
Merchants will be able to load all Intercash cards issued by any participating merchant, something that they were not able to do before.
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According to this article in Aztarnet.com smugglers have been using prepaid cards to export illegal funds to Mexico. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard mentioned that currently there is no legislation or laws regulating prepaid credit cards, so launderers have done exported funds with incredible ease without violating any laws.
The Attorney General also stated that most of the cards are issued from offshore banks in the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the Cayman Islands. The problem with the cards is that they can be loaded up anonymously and so it can be harder to trace. He plans on creating legislation that would make carrying more than $10,000 across the border of Mexico on prepaid cards illegal. Looks like only time will tell if such a regulation will ever be passed in the near future.
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According to this post on the Chicago Tribune the US Treasury has been campaigning this year to get Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients to switch to a prepaid debit card. Currently, millions of Americans are getting a check from SS at the end of the month.
Every year the US Treasury receives about 1.4 million complaints from SS recipients, and so Direct Express is a safe, convenient way for recipients to get their government money without worrying about fraud. Sending prepaid cards instead of checks also saves the government a lot of money. 500,000 people so far have signed up to receive their government benefits through prepaid debit cards, but when will the rest of Americans join?
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According to latest release on Business Wire NetSpend and Check City has entered into an agreement in which NetSpend will be the chain's exclusive debit card provider. Both companies will also work together in converting customers that were previously served by using Check City's in house prepaid product to the new NetSpend card.
Dan Henry, CEO of Netspend has mentioned that “Our mission at NetSpend is to bring an unmatched set of financial services products to the tens of millions of consumers who are overlooked and underserved by traditional banks. By partnering with Check City—a company whose passion for top-quality customer service and exceptional products is as strong as ours—we are better able to deliver on that mission in the West and Mid-Atlantic regions.”
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This article in USA Players discusses how many credit cards have the right to decline transactions as they see fit, for instance online gambling. Online casinos have noticed this, and as an alternative most do accept prepaid credit cards. The difference between the two is that with the prepaid credit card the funds have already been collected and so what you do with the money is at your discretion, unlike regular credit cards. This is why prepaid credit cards have been heavily favored by the Las Vegas Group, Cherry Red Casino, and many more online casinos.
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The 2010 Prepaid Expo USA agenda and program are now being developed, and I am accepting proposals for specific case studies highlighting successful prepaid programs. If you’d like to be considered, please send an email with the following information to kkirkpatrick@iirusa.com, by August 4, 2009 for consideration. Please note the following instructions:
I am looking for prepaid case studies from the following market segments:
· Retail and direct sellers (open & closed loop programs)
· Corporate-funded programs (loyalty, reward, rebate, incentive, promotion)
· Commercial applications (payroll, HR, administrative, sales & marketing support, etc.)
· Affinity programs (e.g. prepaid programs marketed toward affinity groups, inc. associations, colleges and universities, religious groups, etc.)
· Government programs (state and federal programs)
· Mobile payment applications (e.g. cell phone payments, airline tix, etc.)
For your proposal, please include the following information:
· Proposed description of your case study
· Your contact details
· Speakers full names, titles and companies (with full contact details; full address, phone, e-mail)
· Target audience for your session
· Specific details on the case study, including:
Ø Background on the customer challenge and needs
Ø Vendor selection process, including details on the criteria used to vet and choose vendors
Ø Details on the program design, including goals and go-to-market strategy
Ø Recap of program launch and operations to date
Ø Discussion on program metrics, including results (is it profitable, does it support other organizational goals?)
Ø Rough details on future direction of the program.
· Four-five benefits or takeaways the audience will leave with after attending the session indicating why attendees will be interested in the session
· Any other comments you’d like me to consider
Submission of an entry does not guarantee a spot on the agenda, nor does it mean the format you suggested will be used. Incomplete entries will not be considered. I will absolutely contact you if I am interested in learning more about your program.
Regards,
Keith Kirkpatrick
Global Prepaid Event Director
+1 (646) 895-7348
kkirkpatrick@iirusa.com
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