Hallmark launches a virtual gift certificate
Hallmark Cards Inc. has launched a virtual gift certificate service at its Gift Certificate Center’s PremiereChoiceAward.com site. The new service complements the paper-based certificates that are available at the site. It has already signed agreements to distribute gift certificates for Amazon.com, CDNOW, Creativity Central Crayola.com, children`s bookseller HedgehogBooks.com, Lands` End, Spiegel, RedEnvelope, and The Sharper Image. Gift Certificate Center is the first third-party provider of gift certificates to do business with Amazon.
The new virtual gift certificates are delivered via e-mail and customers redeem them at select retailers` Internet sites. Until now, recipients of PremierChoiceAward.com gift certificates would log onto the site, enter a code that identified them and pick the merchant where they wanted to redeem a certificate. The Gift Certificate Center then printed the certificate and mailed it to the recipient, who would spend it in-store. Recipients now have the choice of receiving a virtual or paper certificate for participating merchants.
A spokeswoman for the Gift Certificate Center says the request for virtual certificates “has far exceeded our expectations,” although she won’t reveal how many virtual certificates have been ordered. The Gift Certificate Center prints more than 1 million paper gift certificates a year.
The Gift Certificate Center’s Premiere Choice Award is a corporate recognition
reward and incentive tool. It is redeemable for gift certificates from more than 400 retailers, catalogs, restaurants, travel providers, entertainment companies and others.
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