Round Table – Prepaid Cards

Qwikcilver Brings India’s First Round Table for Retailer Branded Gift & Prepaid Cards The First Qwikcilver Round Table for Gift Cards & Prepaid cards was held in Bangalore at Hotel Oberoi on 18th August, 2010. The attendees included various CEOs & CXOs from large retail players including Raghu Pillai, Pradipta Mohapatra ( Ex-Chairman RPG Retail), Business Heads from Shoppers Stop, Trent, Titan, Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, Mantri Square Mall Management team etc. The Round Table had a session by Professor Dan Horne, respected as Gift Card Guru in the US. Prof Horne is the Chief Knowledge Officer of Global Prepaid Exchange, and is based in Boston. Prof Horne was impressed by the spread of categories and brands partnered by Qwikcilver in the short period since inception. He shared his experience of the global markets and the acceptance of the Gift card category by consumers world over. The US, Europe & Australia have increasingly seen the growth of the Gift card category – and consumers prefer branded Gift cards as the single most preferred gifting choice. The key reason for the growth of this category in the western markets – has been for the convenience and freedom given by the Gift giver to the Gift recipient – wherein, the recipient gets to choose the product of his/her choice. Himanshu Chakrawarti, COO Trent-Landmark, shared his experiences on the successful launch of the Landmark Gift Card program by Qwikcilver – across all their stores and online portal.Himanshu shared the positive response from consumers and the unique occasions that the Landmark Gift Cards are being used for. The new Dora brand Landmark Gift Card has been a good draw with children. Ajoy Chawla, Global Business Head, Titan, conveyed that consumers have seen the Titan Gift Card program as an innovative extension of the positive brand experience at their exclusive Showrooms. The Titan franshisees have also seen significant improvement in their operational efficiency and has aided in the speedy settlement of franchisee expenses by the HO. Consumers in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad have adopted this Titan Gift card for its good technological innovation. Raghu Pillai, President & CEO, Reliance Retail, expressed that the Gift Card category would have advantages in specific categories. The benefit of distribution through Third party outlets would also be witnessed with appropriate processes for the Indian markets. Pradipta Mohapatra, Former Chairman, RPG Retail, chaired the panel discussion where he highlighted the heterogeneous nature of the Indian market. At the same time, he believes the advantages of the Gift Card category and the robust Qwikcilver technology Platform would significantly benefit the Indian brands too.
Source : Qwikcilver