Serverside Group LLC this week announced it is providing the software that will enable United Kingdom consumers to purchase customizable, MasterCard-branded gift cards through Quantum Card Services’ Web site.
Consumers may choose a design available at the site or upload their own images. The cards are available in denominations between £20 (US$32.46 or 23 euros) and £135 pounds. There is a £6.95 purchase fee for the card, which expires after one year.
Newcastle Building Society issues the cards and, as a prepaid card manager, processes the transactions.
Serverside also provides the same customization software to the Royal Bank of Scotland, which allows customers to create personal credit or debit cards.
The gift card customization from Quantum Card Services is the first of its kind in the UK. “[Quantum] has made the process very simple [for consumers],” Tom Elgar, Serverside chief technology office and cofounder, tells PaymentsSource. “We know if you make the process complicated on the Internet, your rate of use will not be high.”
Serverside sells card-personalization services to such banks as Capital One Financial Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. It works with issuers in 26 countries, with North America the firm’s strongest market, Elgar says.
Open-loop gift and prepaid cards have had trouble gaining significant traction in the UK because consumers are not loyalty to the product, Connor Kinnear, Serverside head of marketing, tells PaymentsSource. “People will purchase multiple gift cards and not stick with just one,” he says.
Serverside’s message over the years is that customization helps create customer retention and increased use of card products, Elgar says. In the case of a gift card, a personalized one makes a better gift, he contends.
“Giving $20 has an emotional value to it [with a customizable card],” Elgar says. “Otherwise, it’s just $20 on the card.”
