NEWS AND EVENTS

Retail Decisions (ReD), the UK-based card issuer and a global leader in card fraud prevention and payment processing, today announced its entry into the UK gift card market with leading luxury shirt maker Thomas Pink, one of the luxury goods companies owned by LVMH. The new Pink gift card will provide customers with a secure and convenient alternative to gift vouchers and can be charged with any value, so avoiding having to use multiple denominations of vouchers. The card will be redeemable both in-store and via IVR (interactive voice recognition) and available throughout the store network in the UK and USA.

Pink chose ReD based on its ability to deliver promotional, event-specific cards, coupled with the highest level of fraud prevention and underpinned by an IVR system for disaster recovery.

The UK pre-paid card market is set to become the biggest in Europe, with a predicted total spend of £17 billion by 2010*. Already the prepaid card market leader in Australia, ReD is also a leading issuer of fuel cards and a major card fraud prevention technology provider.  Backed by UK-based private equity group, Palamon Capital Partners, ReD is seeking to capitalise on the growing demand from European companies for prepaid card managed services.

"ReD is already well known for its retailer-focused expertise in the retail sector. Combining this experience in card issuing and card fraud prevention with our market-leading Australian prepaid card operation, means that European companies can take advantage of the most advanced gift card service and experience in the industry,” said Carl Clump, CEO of Retail Decisions. "We are delighted to launch with such a prestigious and well-respected retailer and look forward to helping the team at Pink to exploit the full potential of their prepaid card programme.  Based on the upsurge in gift card purchases we saw last year in Australia we predict that the Thomas Pink gift card they will be a major hit with consumers.”

As with any new form of payment transaction, fraudsters have begun targeting gift cards and fraud has been rising steadily, particularly in the US. Figures from ReD - based on over fourteen billion card transactions it processes each year - show that gift cards were the largest target for card-not-present fraud in 2006. ReD is unique among gift card providers in having its own fraud prevention technology. The fact that ReD is able to monitor both purchases and redemption of gift cards was a major factor in Thomas Pinks decision to partner with them.

As gift cards hold no value until they are activated at the till, in contrast to traditional paper vouchers, Pink will be able to market the gift cards in store without fear of theft. In addition, with the advanced promotional features provided by the ReD gift card programme, Pink will be able to incorporate gift cards into its marketing campaigns to boost sales. For example, it can now develop promotional, event-specific cards that can be used to promote the opening of new retail outlets.

"The adoption of gift cards over paper vouchers is a key development for Pink, enabling the business to incorporate cards into marketing efforts, remove the manual reconciliation required with vouchers and minimise theft and fraud. Long term we expect gift cards to play a key role within retail operations, delivering further features and benefits, and it was vital that we chose the right partner," said Jonathan Heilbron, Managing Director of Pink. "We chose to work with Retail Decisions because of their experience across cards, payments and fraud prevention. This meant they were able to offer not only the most advanced programme but also the most thought-out road map for the future development of gift cards." 

Pink joins an impressive list of ReD's retail clients that includes Bloomingdale’s and Macys, John Lewis Partnership, Marks and Spencer, Superdrug, Comet, Tesco, Asda, Wal-Mart, O2 Retail and River Island.  

* Research by Boston Consulting Group for Mastercard, May 2007