MENLO PARK, Calif. — Today Yiftee published a new white paper based on its experience with more than 300 Community eGift Card programs across the country, 90% of which were started during the pandemic. The paper uses 16 short case studies to describe different chamber of commerce, main street, downtown and city programs all centered around simple digital gift cards. The case studies reflect the diversity of the communities themselves, all with the objective of helping residents and local businesses weather the pandemic storm and come back stronger.
Local partners drive creative community engagement
Community eGift Cards give people tens to hundreds of choices where to spend them while guaranteeing that the money stays local. Yiftee enables the cards, and the Company’s local partners – the chambers of commerce, downtowns, main streets and city governments – come up with the creative programs to engage their communities. The “Coming Back Stronger” white paper describes diverse programs from scavenger hunts; to after-school activity programs for at-risk kids; to essential worker and employee appreciation; to large CARES Act-, American Recovery Plan- and tourism tax-funded bonus programs. There is virtually no limit on how Community Cards can be used to enhance the local economy.
Community Cards benefit the shop local movement
In most cases, these programs and Community Card sales in general represent new revenue sources to the local businesses in an area. While COVID-19 has drawn a focus on small business, the white paper shows that Community Cards are becoming entrenched in employee rewards programs, restaurant weeks, farmers markets and thoughtful everyday gifting among consumers. No doubt, some of this new downtown business would have previously gone to national brand gift cards, but much of it is from new growth in the gift card industry.
“We are excited to bring more of the $171 billion US gift card industry to Main Street shops and restaurants,” said Donna Novitsky, Yiftee CEO. “The power of the Community is far greater than any one store. For example, we see 51% of Community Card holders try new places. With digital gift cards driving much of the 8-9% per year increase in US gift card sales, Community Cards are a huge growth opportunity for the shop local movement.” (*Citations: see notes 1 and 2.)
The 17-page white paper covers city partnerships, designed to jumpstart pandemic recovery; unique gifting programs that generate increased revenue for local businesses; and how some groups have recruited local sponsors who have gained recognition for their generosity and community spirit.
You can download the free white paper here (PDF): https://yifteeutil.com/yiftee_coming_back_stronger.pdf
About Yiftee, Keep Local Dollars Local
Yiftee (Yiftee.com) serves more than 300 communities and 10,000 local businesses with simple, secure, point-of-sale system-independent eGift Cards that keep millions of local dollars local. The company works with Chambers of Commerce, Downtowns, Main Streets, Business Improvement Districts, city governments and other local organizations to create “Community Cards,” branded for the community and redeemable at 10s to 100s of local businesses. Organizations and individuals purchase them online and send them via email, text or print to friends, family and co-workers to support their local businesses.
There is no cost to the organizers or merchants for the program and it can be set up in just a few days. Yiftee also provides custom-branded cards for individual merchants, franchises, and chains.
More info at https://yiftee.com/, email: sales@yiftee.com, Twitter: @Yiftee, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yiftee/.
Works Cited:
[*Note 1] ResearchAndMarkets.com. (January 2021). The “United States Gift Card and Incentive Card Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics (Databook) – Spend Analysis by Digital / e-Gift Card, Retail and Corporate Consumers, Top Retailers, Distribution Channel, Occasions, and Demographics. Dublin, Ireland: ResearchAndMarkets.com.
[*Note 2] Claremont Consulting Group Survey of Yiftee Customers. (April, 2021). Customer and Community Analysis and Recommendations. Claremont, CA: Yiftee, Inc.
MULTIMEDIA:
*Image link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/21-0831s2p-yiftee-wpaper-300dpi.jpg
*Caption: New Yiftee white paper “Coming Back Stronger” illustrates many creative Community eGift Card programs led by local organizations to help their small businesses thrive.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Donna Novitsky, CEO, Yiftee.com
donna@yiftee.com 650-533-0938
Related link: https://yiftee.com/
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