ABC Gift Card & Loyalty Program Launched

Media Release: 1 December 2007

ABC Shops, part of the commercial division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has recently launched its new gift cards just in time to boost its Christmas sales.

ABC Shop Gift Cards are now available in any denomination from $10 to $200 and are presented in a designer gift card wallet, making for a great Christmas gift idea.

The gift cards can be purchased and redeemed from any of the 42 ABC Shops and 105 licensed ABC centres throughout Australia. Customers can also shop securely online or via a 1300 number.

Doug Walker, General Manager ABC Retail said "During the first month of the gift cards release, the average dollar value of gift card purchases increased by 15%. Now gift cards are regularly in our top 3 best sellers (in sales value)."

Mr Walker further added, "We recognised the growing number of last minute Christmas shoppers and wanted to cater for these customers too. We already offer same day emailing of electronic vouchers, purchased through a secure online shop."

Australian customer loyalty and gift card specialist Vii has provided the services to deliver both plastic gift cards and electronic vouchers for ABC Shops in time for the lucrative Christmas shopping season. Vii is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wishlist Holdings.

According to Adrian Finlayson, CEO of Wishlist Holdings, "Studies have shown that over 45% of the population have now used prepaid gift cards, a significant growth when compared to only 11% in 2003. With this level of penetration, we expect to see a high uptake of gift cards across the retail industry."

Vii also provided a helping hand to launch ABC Shop Rewards, a customer loyalty program where customers earn rewards points each time they make a purchase from ABC Shops.