Gift cards are the new accessible currency, says GyFTR CEO Arvind Prabhakar

The world has become quite friendly towards gift vouchers or cards because they come with various cash benefits which can be redeemed in a prescribed time manner. Gift vouchers are best referred to as stored-value money card, which can be used as an alternative for cash for purchases at a particular store in a time frame manner. Currently, banks, merchants, e-commerce portals they all offer gift vouchers to their customers, giving benefits on a host of services like either for buying mobile phone, paying at restaurant, vacation, groceries, even doing shopping, movie tickets, train tickets, air tickets and many more. You name it and there will be a certain gift card available on it. Generally, gift vouchers are given depending upon a certain limit you buy or spend. It is given mostly on payments made by debit cards or credit cards. In fact, some banks have even launched their own shopping cards giving various cashbacks, redeemable points and much more. In short, gift vouchers help in making your spending cheaper. 

In an exclusive interview with Zee Business Online, Arvind Prabhakar, Founder & CEO of GyFTR said, “Gift cards are the new accessible currency, acting like an actual currency.”

Prabhakar highlighted various aspects of gift vouchers, like how they are treated online and offline. Here’s the entire excerpt from the interview. 

1. How brands are using E-gift vouchers to drive sales and market salience?

The acceptance for E-gift vouchers across the country has increased massively over the past few decades. The gift card industry in India is poised to hit the $1 billion mark in the next 3-5 years. Given such massive traction for the entity, it is no surprise that brands are using e-gift vouchers as pertinent marketing tools to drive sales and build brand loyalty.  Brands that offer e-gift vouchers for their products do so with the knowledge that the purchase sentiment possessed by these transactional channels is unmatched. An E-gift voucher is like a sale that is already closed.

Brands that are looking to drive market salience by leveraging digital solutions such as digital gift cards are partnering with innovative startups that enable a complete gift-voucher ecosystem for their products and services. Such platforms offer greater visibility to brands and act as a separate sales channel for them. Further, gift vouchers influence fence-sitters who are yet to make a purchase decision into completing a purchase by offering enticing discounts. People are driven to sample products that they otherwise would not have considered.

2. How offline brands are redefining the end-to-end customer experience through new-age digital solutions?

By deploying new-age digital solutions, offline brands can successfully leverage the value proposition possessed by technologically advanced marketing solutions, exponentially enhancing customer experience.  For instance, numerous offline brands are partnering with innovative O2O gifting platforms to create a robust online presence for their brands by way of e-gift vouchers and other such innovative solutions that boost customer loyalty. Such platforms act as an end-to-end solution for brands by offering them highly beneficial services including major catalogue space, unmatched gifting options, showcase on brand pages and 24/7 support.

By associating with such technology-led platforms, offline brands can create an online presence while carving a unique niche for themselves in the digital world. To that end, GyFTR manages execution, technology and delivery for offline brands, making their transition into a multi-channel brand as seamless as possible.  

3. In its 7th year of operations, what is the phase of expansion for GyFTR?

Till date, GyFTR has issued a total number of 10 million vouchers while almost 50 lakh people have used and experienced electronic gift vouchers through their platform. Currently, our clients include the top 5 banks in India like HDFC, RBL, Axis, IndusInd, Payback (ICICI) along with 200 organizations(5 leading R&R companies and 2 leading e-com companies). We are catering to over 5 million users through our platform. With a remarkable growth rate of 100% year-on-year, we have on board over 135+ brands with integrated billing software /POS (point of sale) across 55,000terminals. We are also set to expand across the globe. We are launching our services in Indonesia in Q1 following which we will be going live in Dubai by Q2.

किस्तों में होगा इंश्योरेंस क्लेम का भुगतान, #IRDAI की ड्राफ्ट गाइडलाइंस जारी।@anuragshah710 pic.twitter.com/YP3GEJVQiD

— Zee Business (@ZeeBusiness) April 3, 2019

4. How is GyFTR helping brands encash the new wave of loyalty points for up-selling?

As mentioned above, digital gift vouchers and loyalty points push customers to make favourable purchase decisions. When customers shop using a gift voucher of a certain amount, they usually do not like to leave any amount pending in the voucher. Thus, they tend to go for products through which they can exhaust the entire amount, even if it means spending a bit more than the original amount of the voucher. This process, known as upselling, is extremely profitable and one of the prime reasons why gift vouchers and loyalty points are the prime brand currencies in today’s e-commerce landscape. 

GyFTR, by enabling the entire gifting universe for brands, allows brands to reap the multiple benefits of using brand currencies, including but not limited to upselling, in a seamless, hassle-free manner.

5. What is the benefit that online catalogues get from such an association?

Online catalogues including airlines, banks etc. that offer redemption through loyalty points and gift vouchers are essentially enhancing the customer experience that they offer. Such added perks make customers feel good about their purchase decisions and drive up customer loyalty. Online catalogues that display popular brands can look forward to increased repeat transactions and a subsequent boost in profits.