October 2012 - Page 2 of 2 - Woohoo Gifting Blog

J K Rowling’s Done It Again!

Are you a Harry Potter fan? If you haven’t read the famous Harry Potter books yet, it’s time you did! Experience J K Rowling’s special brand of writing magic firsthand and you’ll be hooked for life. For those of you who’ve tasted her magic before, here’s more good news. J K Rowling has released her first ever piece of fiction for adults. So all of you grownups who read your Harry Potter books on the sly can read this new book in the open! If you’re wondering about the title of the new book, it’s called “Casual Vacancy”. It’s all about the financial, cultural and ethical disparity between two fictional areas in England, and the casual vacancy that arises when the local parish councilor dies.

Gift The Love Of Books

If you love books, you know how privileged you are to be a part of the readers’ community. How wonderful it is to travel through the annals of history and explore fictional worlds. Books make great gift ideas for your loved ones’ birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions. Why not gift them gift cards and gift vouchers from Flipkart, Landmark, Oxford Book Store, Sapna Book Store, and Starmark and so on? Books can be read again and again, which multiplies the reading pleasure. Books can be gifted to others and passed on to one’s kids, and even be donated to schools and libraries. Your gift recipients will always appreciate the books they bought with your gift card because books become a part of you once you read them. They are never discarded! The Magic Is Back – Check Out Casual Vacancy!

QwikCilver at IAMAI Digital Payment Conference on 12-09-2012

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) organized a 2 day Conference on 12th September 2012 at the ITC Grand in Mumbai. QwikCilver was requested to attend as a panelist to throw light on the topic “Innovations in Gift & Incentive Cards”, a hot theme getting increasing attention in digital payment circles. While the panel with QwikCilver focused on the growth of the gift card category in India; interesting details emerged about the issues, challenges and opportunities in driving acceptance of pre-paid gifting instruments.

Mr. T P Pratap who as Co-Founder & CMO at QwikCilver & Woohoo.in, shared his experiences in launching gift cards in India. Since the launch of the category three years ago, over 2.5 million gift cards already have been procured by brands and retailers. The rate of adoption has grown significantly, with approximately 3 million cards expected to be absorbed by the Indian market in the coming 6 months. Mr. Pratap also illuminated the audience on the differing rates of penetration of gift cards across India; with the southern cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, seeing both a faster growth in sale and redemption of gift cards.

The panel also discussed the enabling role retailers’ play in driving the adoption of gift cards among consumers. While everybody at first glance understands the conveniences of a gift card over cash or physical gifts; consumer adoption can increase if there is all round commitment towards the initiative from the top management to the store executives. Branding, advertising and point-of-sale promotion also plays a key role for spreading greater awareness; as the gift card needs to be marketed as a FMCG product, rather than as a financial instrument. Towards the end, the panel also discussed the emerging gifting instruments like digital & mobile gift vouchers aimed at further simplifying gift giving in India.

Note: Image is from www. IAMAI.in. Copyright vests with respective copyright holders.

Retailers target 1 million gift card sales this festive season: Study

Republished here on: 04 October 2012

As appeared on 03 October in The Economic Times

MUMBAI: In spite of the concerns over the diminishing footfalls at retail stores, there is an increasing demand for gift cards during the festive season and retailers expect sale of a million such cards during the forthcoming Diwali, according to a recent study.

“Retailers are gearing up for demand of over a million gift cards during this festive season. Indians spent Rs 1,800 crores on gift cards last year.

“The total number of active gift cards touched 2.7 million this month, and has witnessed a growth of 145 per cent in the last one year,” reveals a study by QwikCilver that is into gift card solutions.

Retailers are keen to push gift cards, as customers tend to buy products worth more than the gift card, it notes.

“Retailers are keen on gift cards owing to the significant increase in average uplift. Uplift is the amount spent by an individual over the card value.

“The average uplift is currently at 150 per cent, with giftees spending at least 70 per cent more than the gift card value,” it says, adding that in case of premium accessory brands, uplift is as high as 400 per cent.

The average amount spent on a gift card in the country is Rs 1,400 this year, but is higher at Rs 3,300 for premium accessory brands, the study says noting that almost 40 per cent of the demand for gist card is from Tier-II and Tier-II cities.

“Globally, gift cards are easily the largest selling SKUs for many brands, especially during festive seasons and this trend is soon catching up here,” QwikCilver said.

In addition to retail demand, corporates have also jumped on to the bandwagon, with gift cards turning out to be the favourite for employee and partner gifting programmes.

The study notes that all leading brands, across categories such as apparel, luxury accessories, food and beverage, cinema are adding new variants to their gift card offerings.

TeeVIRUS INFECTED

Have you been TEE-infected yet? If not, it’s time to get infected! Get on board with Fastrack’s new TeeVIRUS INFECTED collection of cool tee-inspired shades and watches. Fastrack believes that cool logos, graphics, colors and quotes shouldn’t be restricted to t-shirts alone. But a whole range of cool products should be tee-infected, which is why you can now buy a cool, orange-colored watch centered with a tee-inspired graphic and a quote that says, “This way, I am hot”!!

This new collection can offer you a lot of new ideas for gifts to surprise your friends. So if you’re running out of gift ideas for that cool friend who’s so in tune with the latest, a gift card for Fastrack’s Tee-INFECTED COLLECITON is just the ticket. These watches, shades and wallets make cool gifts for birthdays, or for any occasion. They make excellent gifts for men and women. The Fastrack prepaid gift card provides a convenient way to shop at Fastrack stores; all it takes is a single swipe of the card to pay for one’s Tee-INFECTED purchases. The gift card can be used any number of times, at any Fastrack outlet. Since the gift card is valid for several months, your recipient can stagger purchases over the validity period. So why wait? Buy a Fastrack gift card, have it sent to your friend and get him or her Tee-INFECTED as soon as possible!

Gift Ideas — LifeStyle’s Autumn-Winter Collection

LifeStyle is all about making a statement with a splash and that’s truer than ever when it comes to their new Autumn-Winter Collection. Good news, people! The blazing heat of summer is over, and the cooler months are around the corner. What better way to celebrate the cooling weather than to head over to LifeStyle and upgrade your autumn-winter wardrobe? Talk about flowing fabrics in autumn colors of dry autumn leaves of chartreuse, magenta, blues, reds, navies, black and browns! LifeStyle brings you premium designs from top design brands such as Melange, Fame Forever, Ginger, Forca, NineWest, Mango and many more this season. Turn heads and up your fashion ante with LifeStyle’s new autumn-winter collection.

The LifeStyle prepaid gift voucher is just the right thing for someone who’s so into fashion. That special person in your life would love the fabulous wardrobe options from the new LifeStyle autumn-winter collection! Yes, they would– The prepaid gift voucher can be used at any of the many LifeStyle stores all over India. It’s not rechargeable, but you can always gift LifeStyle gift voucher for birthday or any other special occasion! Each LifeStyle gift voucher is valid for 360 days – that’s many days of planning the perfect shopping trip, or several trips, if you will. Buying the gift voucher takes only a few seconds of your time, while the ease of selection, multiple payment and delivery options make you want to purchase again and again!