29 Feb 08
New Prepaid Solutions from Barclaycard Business offers retailers a convenient and simple way to attract customers
Barclaycard Business today launched Prepaid Solutions, a product that will enable retailers to offer gift cards and other stored value solutions to their customers in a more cost effective and convenient way, with the ultimate aim of increased sales and enhanced customer loyalty. The nationwide launch today follows the completion of a successful three month pilot of a Gift Card with Autonomy, a ladies tailoring and special occasion clothes chain with 27 stores nationwide.
Barclaycard Business developed Prepaid Solutions in partnership with Card Commerce, the expert in delivering prepaid card solutions. The product is highly flexible and enables the user to package the card in the most beneficial way to their business. Options come in the form of a gift card, a savings club card or a refund card. As an own branded card, the card will also help promote a retailers’ brand.
Prepaid Solutions from Barclaycard Business is launched at a time when paper vouchers are becoming less popular and there is an increasing demand from retailers for prepaid card technology. Barclaycard Business customers will be able to benefit from a quick and easy set-up with minimal investment, as the technology can be integrated into existing Barclaycard Business payment terminals, with no additional equipment required.
With Prepaid Solutions, Barclaycard Business also offers its customers real time online Management Information (MI), enabling the retailer to track transaction details and monitor the outstanding balance of the card. The store’s own customers are able to track their transactions and outstanding balance by visiting www.showmybalance.com
Niru Hunwicks, Marketing and Operations Manager of Autonomy stores, said:
“Barclaycard Business Prepaid Solutions is hassle free as all we had to do was set it up through our existing onsite pdq terminals. We were up and running very quickly and it means we only have to deal with one supplier for all our transactional queries needs.
“The Prepaid Card has definitely been a success so far for us. In the first 3 weeks of launch we sold 127 cards for a total of £3,851.25 which we know will encourage return customer visits as well as attract new customers.
“We were looking to enter the prepaid card market for some time but were put off by the heavy financial and administrative investment required. Usually you have to buy third party software which takes a while to set-up and get going but we didn’t need to do any of this with Barclaycard Business solution.”
Bill Thomson, Managing Director from Barclaycard Business, said:
“In developing Barclaycard Business Prepaid Solutions we’ve created a highly cost effective solution for our business customers who want to enter the prepaid and gift card market. The set-up is very quick and easy and retailers are attracted to the all in one solution whereby they only have to deal with one supplier. Barclaycard Business will be working with Card Commerce and its business customers in order to take a lead role in this market and we anticipate significant retailer demand for this product.”
The UK prepaid card market is its infancy but currently accounts for 2% of retail sales, and industry experts predict that by 2010 the cards will be responsible for 3.1 billion transactions in Europe and a turnover of €79bn.
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Product Detail
Prepaid Solutions uses the existing technology of the Barclaycard Business terminals to enable card transactions for a prepaid card. Prepaid solutions is a closed loop program, used exclusively in the specific merchant stores i.e. does not utilise the payment schemes.
Prepaid Solutions technology is extremely flexible and enables programs to be set up to meet different customer needs and propositions e.g. A savings card, Gift Card or reward card.
The Barclaycard Business solution offers and end to end service, including card design, production and online management reporting.
Notes to Editors
Barclaycard Business
Barclaycard Business is also one of Europe’s largest acquirers and processors of card transactions, with over 95,000 retailer and business relationships. In addition to traditional terminals, Barclaycard Business has other options available for processing card payments: the portable terminal is ideal for restaurants and bars; the mobile option allows payments on the move for taxi drivers and other mobile professions; and Barclaycard Business offers a secure online/telephone payment solution. In 2007, more than 3 billion purchases were made with credit and debit cards through 200,000 Barclaycard Business’ customer outlets in the UK.
Barclaycard Business is Europe’s Number 1 issuer of Visa Commercial Cards with approximately 145,000 corporate customers, and almost 600,000 cardholders. It services businesses of all sizes from multi-national companies and Government departments to small and medium enterprises. Barclaycard Business cards are welcome at more than 24 million places worldwide.
Card Commerce
Card Commerce is an independent, highly focused provider of prepaid debit services. We work as a trusted partner with leading financial services, retail and government organisations. Our industry leading multi-currency payment platform, PayPlus OnDemand, is built to support all types of prepaid debit products including gift, savings, remittance, benefit and insurance schemes. Our end-to-end service supports our partners from programme design through to customer acquisition and ongoing scheme success. We make prepaid debit work effectively, efficiently and profitably.
For further information please contact:
| Eoin Whyte Business Development Director ewhyte@card-commerce.com 0870 735 2829 (UK) |
Karen McConville Marketing Executive kmcconville@card-commerce.com 0870 735 2829 (UK) |