On September 27, 2011, in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Warsaw, Poland, for the second time, a conference devoted to the prospects of the development of gift cards was held. Several dozen representatives of Polish and foreign issuers of gift cards and representatives of companies offering solutions for this sector took part in the conference.

An address of Grzegorz Głowacki, the Vice-Chairman of the Association of the Issuers of Gift Cards initiated the conference. In his speech, Mr Głowacki described the purposes of the activity of the Association as well as the diagnosis for the current situation on the Polish market of gift cards. He repeatedly underlined the importance of the role of the card issuers in spreading the cards’ distribution which is a key to the market successes of this new product.

Next, on behalf of UK Gift Card & Voucher Association, Steve Bradbery discussed the role of the Association in consolidating the activity of all institutions operating on the British market. UK Gift Card & Voucher Association has been operating for 16 years and has been one of the initiators of the organisation of its counterpart in Poland. Steve Bradbery also presented the situation on the British market and the market research findings concerning gift cards. The research results show that 38% of the British buy at least one gift card every year.

Later, during the conference, Joanna Dosz-Szczepańska, representing PBS DGA research company, presented research results concerning the Polish consumers of gift cards, their preferences and their perception of cards.

It transpires that 62% of Poles have already been familiarised with gift cards and regard them as the appropriate present for friends and close acquaintances. The popularity of using gift cards as a form of an additional remuneration at work is also growing – as much as 62% of respondents regard them as a good bonus related present.

52% of the surveyed Poles regarded gift cards as an appropriate gift for a friend or a close acquaintance, while 48% declared their willingness to present the cards to close family members for a name day or a birthday, for house-warming parties (49%), as a holiday or a wedding present (48%). Poles would like to see gift cards in the offer of drugstores (41%), at beauty salons and SPA studios (38%), at a jeweller’s, in clothes shops or in bookshops (36%).

Following the market research findings concerning the Polish gift cards market, Mr Juergen Stichenwirth – the Vice President for Sales in the Continental Europe & Middle East of Ceridian SVS – made his presentation in which he provided examples of the application of gift cards for marketing purposes all over the world. This let the Polish issuers widen their knowledge about the multiple applications of gift cards in marketing activities of the commercial and service chains.

Mr Łukasz Sznajdrowski, the IT Projects Manager of Argo Card, presented the ways of making payments over the Internet using gift cards and the GiftPay application – a module for the Internet payments. The GifPay module was designed so that it would be easy for implementation in any online shop and it would enable carrying out payments with the use of gift cards.

After the lunch break, Mr Christian Lindner – the President of the Management of Retailo AG – introduced an independent chain of gift card outlets operating in Germany and in six other countries including Austria and Switzerland. The Retailo chain has over 25 000 outlets selling gift cards, making it the biggest chain in Europe. The Retailo stands offer 65 types of gift cards of different issuers to choose from.

What financial benefits are involved when issuing gift cards? Mr Juergen Stichenwirth addressed this question in his second speech. The application of gift cards in various promotion campaigns always results in the sale growth not only of the gift cards themselves, but also of the related products and it contributes to the increased number of visiting buyers and their increased expenditures.

The business part of the conference was followed by the social character events.

Anna Tomczak, representing ePRUF SA – an operator of gift cards in the chain of “Dbam o Zdrowie” drugstores – presented the possibilities of using gift cards in pro-social activity. Together with Elżbieta Łacina from “Dbam o Zdrowie” foundation, they discussed current applications of cards in the activity of the foundation, of associations and of the social care institutions. The members of the Polish Association of the Issuers of Gift Cards donated their collected gift cards that were presented during the conference to the Solitary Mothers’ Home in Laski, represented by Iwona Drabarek. The following companies contributed to this lofty cause : Amrest (Pizza Hut, Starbucks), Decathlon, Gavekortet, ePRUF SA.

In his address, the President of the Argo Card Management Board, Mr Remigiusz Montwiłł, returned to the issue of the application of gift cards, introducing the ways of their personalization. This subject was received with considerable interest of the conference participants. The presented possibility of producing personalized gift cards, e.g. with a photo of the person that receives them, with any graphic design or with personalized wishes of all the best for that person, became a subject of a long discussion and provoked a lot of detailed questions.

The conference culminated with the announcement of the winners of the 2011 Gold Gift Card competition, and the 2011 Amber Gift Card competition that had taken place through the Internet. Mr Grzegorz Głowacki – the Vice-Chairman of the Polish Association of the Issuers of Gift Cards announced the results of the competitions and handed over the awards.

The 2011 Brown Gift Card award went to Smyk, a commercial chain and the Silver Gift Card award to SuperPharm chemists chain.
The 2011 Gold Gift Card was awarded to Decathlon, a chain of sports shops and accepted on behalf of the winner by Maria Jaworska.

Next, the 2011 Amber Gift Card statuette went to Bonus System Polska SA, represented by Ms Monika Romaniuk – the Director of Marketing and Development; the Internet users voted the card with the image of Marilyn Monroe to be their favourite.

We would like to give our thanks to all the participants of the Conference and to all those that had supported the Association during the organisation of this international event.

The presentations and the complete results of the market research made available during the conference may be accessed in the Partner Zone of our website, solely for companies that are the members of the Polish Association of the Issuers of Gift Cards.