Gift and Loyalty Cards

Gift Cards are a growing market

  • Gift card sales in 2005 were estimated at approximately $65 billion - up an estimated 24% from the previous year
  • The average consumer spent $233 on gift cards with an average value of $48
  • 92% of adults have gift card awareness - up from 76% in 2002
  • 59% of the American shopping public, 131 million people, has used or reveived a gift card in the past twelve months.

Benefits of using Gift Cards for your Business

  • Plastic gift cards outsell paper gift certificates 10 to 1
  • Card circulation helps build brand awareness
  • Declining balance keeps full cash value in store
  • 56% of customers spend more than card value
  • Powerful promotional tool for marketing campaigns
  • Electronic audit trail minimized losses
  • Merchant billboard in customers wallet

Gift Card Program Management


Use the ECA platform to create new products from scratch or take of existing programs. Our custom design department can make your program a success with unique card artwork and eye-catching point-of-purchase display materials. The ECA Card Import Tool makes it easy to seamlessly migrate balance information from existing programs onto the ECA Network, without any interruptions to your customers.

Some Features Include:

  • Multiple value on one card
  • Online Reporting
  • Text messaging and email marketing
  • Dynamic Receipt Messages (promotions,coupons)
  • Import card programs from other companies

Loyalty Cards & Frequency Programs

The keys to generating repeat business are to figure out who your best customers are, find ways to make them feel special and give them incentives to come back for more. Only ECA gives you the flexibility to allow customers to earn points for qualifying purchases and redeem rewards at participating locations. Programs can be designed to highlight certain times of the day, attract customers on specific days of the week or month, or drive purchases of specialty items.

Reward cards are the next big thing for small-to-medium sized merchants that are looking for ways to build a base of loyal customers. ECA has all of the tools that you need in order to create compelling and profitable programs for your business. Our flexible system can easily support cash back rewards, track customer visits and power community rewards programs.

Some Features Include:

  • Custom value/reward types
  • Cardholder demographic reports
  • Auto-reward triggers
  • Import card programs from other companies
  • Multi-location programs

Multi-Merchant/Community Card Programs

The concept of keeping consumer money within the community has never been more relevant than it is today. Only ECA can power a single card that can be accepted at various locations within a given geography or industry association. Consumers appreciate the savings. Merchants appreciate the increased foot traffic. Communities appreciate the shared commerce. Every member is a winner!

Text Message/SMS Broadcast

There is no form of advertising more immediate or affordable than Text Messaging and no better way to create a buzz than reaching people instantly through their mobile phone. At any time of day, merchants can drive incremental business by sending their customers targeted marketing messages through our ECA Portal. This feature allows merchant to send special offers to their most loyal patrons without publicizing the discount to everyone in town.

We can all see that mobile is the way of the future. not just for payments, but everything. That is why ECA continues to add new features that integrate Gift and Reward programs with mobile phones and text messaging.

Merchants can send text message blasts to their cardholders to instantly notify them of special promotions. Merchants can set triggers based on customer purchase behaviors that will activate customized reward and coupon messages. For added convenience, customers may use their cell phone number in lieu of their card in order to earn rewards. ECA continues to develop new mobile features so that you are able to offer your customers cutting edge programs that differentiate you from the competition.

Online Merchant Management Portal

The ECA Online Merchant Management Portal allows you to keep track of all of the transactional histories and cardholder information in one easily accessible place. The reporting engine within our portal allows you to measure the success of your programs and check unredeemed balances in real time. Data can be sliced, diced, graphed and exported in a number of different ways to satisfy all of your analytical requirements.