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Newsletter - January 2008
Happy New Year! It's 2008 and GiftCards.com is off to a great start. The world of prepaid card solutions tends to die down after the holidays, but traffic is still roaring our way and we are eager to get started on what will be a very successful and challenging new year.
The Big Move
GiftCards.com is now officially in its new home. The move began right after the first of the year and everyone is now at the new location for GiftCards.com. The move went rather smoothly thanks to a great deal of help from everyone. Now that the team is at 495 Mansfield Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15205, it is on to the bigger picture in 2008. With what seems like will turn out to be another record year for GiftCards.com, the future looks bright for some major implements that will begin as soon as possible. The main reason for moving to the new 20,000 square foot building was to begin building the fulfillment center inside the building. Soon, GiftCards.com will be making all gift cards on site which means faster turn around time and more options for its customers. When the fulfillment center is in place, GiftCards.com will be able to provide its customers with state of the art options as well as lightning fast turn around times when ordering gift cards. Stay tuned for more details regarding the fulfillment center as well as the positive changes that will be taking place with GiftCards.com.
Incentives for Your Employees or Clients
The holidays are over and the prepaid card industry as well as the retail industry altogether is looking back on what was an interesting and bumpy at times holiday season. The National Retail Federation compiled the 2007 retail sales statistics and found that retail industry sales for December, excluding automobile sales, gas stations, and restaurants, rose 1.7 percent over last year. The NRF had forecasted a stronger season, but felt that, "economic pressures caused deterioration in the sales climate at the end of the year," according Chief Economist Rosalind Wells.
There are a number of reasons sales did not take off as previously expected during the 2007 holiday season. One reason is the continuing ascent of energy costs which are playing a role in everyoneŐs daily spending limits and overall economic well-being. Energy costs combined with the rapidly decreasing housing markets contributed to the decrease in amount spent during the months of November and December. However, there was an increase, just not as large as expected. November and December sales did rise three percent from last year totaling $469.9 billion.
Projections for 2008 are solid with the NRF forecasting 3.5 percent increase in retail sales. The increase is expected to become more apparent in the later part of the year again with a forecasted slow start to the beginning of 2008. With more emphasis on quick and easy shopping, the Internet will again be a major source of retail sales. However, everyone will be making adjustments to compensate for some of the factors that are creating harsher economic times.
Want to Partner with GiftCards.com?
Have you looked into our affiliate program? If you were considering becoming an affiliate of GiftCards.com there are multiple options for you. You can choose our traditional affiliate program or our private label program. Both can yield you and your Web site money without spending any money of your own. The traditional program is rather common and whether you know it or not very popular on millions of websites. Once you sign-up for our program, again which is free, you can access a number of banners and place one on your site or blog. When one of your visitors goes to your sites or reads your blog and they click on the banner it will direct them to GiftCards.com. If they place an order with us, we pay you a commission.
The other type is the private label program. The sign-up process is the same, but when you choose the private label program you can keep your visitors on your page by creating a sub-domain, powered by GiftCards.com. For instance, www.yoursite.giftcards.com would be your page and when a visitor to your site clicks on a text link that you create and place anywhere you would like on your page, they will be directed to the GiftCards.com shopping cart page. When they place an order, you receive your commission. The program is really simple and if you feel that you receive traffic that may be interested in purchasing gift cards, then there is no reason why you should not sign-up to become a GiftCards.com affiliate.
