Using New Technology to Eliminate the Cost of Gift & Loyalty Card Processing

Nanuet, NY, May 13, 2011 --(PR.com)-- A recent retail trends research has found that small to medium businesses that want to implement a loyalty or gift card program face a limited selection of options for card processing. Further more the “Prepaid Press” reported in their May 2011 issue that the three leaders in Point of Sale technology have consolidated and now there are only two. In most cases merchants get a card-processing program from their credit card processor and in doing so they are subject to fees and costs that, in many cases, make the program too expensive.

Dan Farrell, Vice President of Card Products and Services at First Data has recently said: "Gift and loyalty cards are not a payment product; they are a marketing product, that’s what sales people must remember when they go in to have a conversation with a small merchant about loyalty & gift cards.” Gift and loyalty cards are marketing tools, credit card processing companies do not engage in marketing activities and do not view these cards as what they really are. For the credit card processing company the cards are just another source of income.

There are other solutions available on the market but most involve a software purchase, installation, set-up, lengthy instructions and other issues including costs that are in most cases on a monthly basis. Software developers that do not understand the operations and needs of a small business create many of the programs, resulting in programs that are not easy to understand or use.

The development team at plastic card city decided to step up to the task and in tandem with the marketing department with input from the sales staff created a program that would be easy to use, require no installation, have all the required features for a good gift or loyalty program and be available at the lowest cost possible. The Plastic Card City development team constructed a Web Application. “Working in web browser eliminates the need for an installation. It can work on any web-enabled device, PC or Mac, even an iPad or Smart Phone,” explains David Geyra, development director. “We wanted to create a system that would work in any small business environment and require the minimum amount of operations to use. Mainly, log in (if not done previously), scan card, enter amount and that’s it.”

The marketing team at Plastic Card City have setup a new web site Free-Loyalty-Software.com to house the application, databases and other company information. It also includes demos of the applications in action. After some additional research and cost analyses it was determined that the usage of the application could be offered for free. The only cost for merchants would be to print the cards. This would help small businesses to run a loyalty, rewards or gift card program as the true marketing tool they are meant to be.

About Plastic Card City
Plastic Card City is a full-service provider of plastic gift cards, plastic key tags and card key tag combinations. Services offered include planning of gift, loyalty and discount card programs to companies in the following industries:
Retail, Small Business Merchants, Hospitality, Healthcare, Restaurant, Technology, Fundraising, Travel and many others.

Today all Small businesses are looking for ways to cut costs and extend their profits, for that reason Plastic Card City has added this powerful component “Free Processing for its gift and loyal card programs”. Regardless of the economic environment, savings will always be very important to all small business clients and that’s why Plastic Card City will continue to create innovative solution to extend their purchasing power.

Plastic Card City is dedicated to deliver the most cost effective products without compromising quality or delivery requirements, and most importantly all cards and key tags are produced in the USA.

###