Tag Archives: community eGift cards

Yiftee Surpasses 400 Community eGift Cards, Launches New In-Person Sales Capability

MENLO PARK, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- As of today, Yiftee, Inc. is offering another way to "Keep Local Dollars Local" with its new "Order Desk" capability. City offices, Chambers of Commerce, Main Streets, and Downtown Associations can now sell their custom-branded Community eGift Cards to walk-in buyers and at public events, in addition to online sales. These Community Cards can be spent exclusively at local shops and restaurants. Order Desk is available as an add-on for existing Community Card customers at no cost.

"Because we moved from paper-based gift certificates to Yiftee, we have a lot of customers who are used to coming into our office to purchase gift cards for holiday gifts and employee or customer appreciation," said Kenyetta McFall, Marketing and Public Relations Manager for the Quincy, IL Chamber of Commerce. "We used to have to write them up by hand - but now we can create five or five hundred gift cards in a few minutes, print them out and hand them to the buyers."

Yiftee reports that approximately a third of its Community Card sales are from corporate, government, schools, hospitals, and other organizational buyers who give them to their employees and customers. Unlike single brand gift cards, the recipients have many choices of where to spend them. Since corporate purchasers are not as likely to buy a nail salon, pizza place or ice cream shop, these purchases bring new revenue to main street merchants.

Adding new communities rapidly, Yiftee tops 430 US cities in 48 states

The Company also announced that more than 430 communities across the country have adopted its easy-to-use platform for custom Community eGift Cards, and more than 15,000 small businesses use their digital gift card technology either in Communities or as single-brand eGift Cards. There's no cost to the merchants or Yiftee's community partners for the Community Card program. Yiftee charges an eDelivery fee at the time of purchase which can be paid by the buyer or a program sponsor. Yiftee eGift Cards require no special equipment or point-of-sale integration for merchants to participate.

New communities are invited to Yiftee's step-by-step 4-week launch curriculum; with all the materials they will need to market the program, and Yiftee continues to send weekly "Best Practices" all year long, learning from their communities as they grow.

About Yiftee, Keep Local Dollars Local

Yiftee serves more than 400 communities and 15,000 local businesses with simple, secure, PoS-independent eGift Cards that keep local dollars local - more than $30M since the pandemic began in 2020. The company works with Chambers of Commerce, Downtowns, Main Streets, Business Improvement Districts, City Governments and other local organizations to create "Community Cards," branded for the community and redeemable at 10s to 100s of local businesses.

Organizations and individuals purchase them online and send them via email, text or print to friends, family, and co-workers to support their local businesses. There is no cost to the organizers or merchants for the program. Yiftee also provides custom-branded cards for individual merchants, franchises, and chains.

More info at https://www.yiftee.com/, email: sales@yiftee.com, Twitter: @Yiftee, Facebook: facebook.com/yiftee/.

As of today, Yiftee, Inc. is offering another way to "Keep Local Dollars Local" with its new "Order Desk" capability. City offices, Chambers of Commerce, Main Streets, and Downtown Associations can now sell their custom-branded Community eGift Cards to walk-in buyers and at public events, in addition to online sales.

Related link: https://yiftee.com/

115 Sponsors Step Up to Engage Communities in Shop Local Campaigns

MENLO PARK, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- In pandemic years 2020 and 2021, more than 100 of Yiftee's almost 400 communities who use its Community eGift Card platform ran dedicated gift card grant or bonus programs to benefit their small businesses, helping them stay afloat. Who were the "hometown heroes" that sponsored these programs during tough times, and continue to do so?

Yiftee surveyed its communities and found some expected and some surprising results when they asked, "What was the source of funding for your community gift card bonus and grant programs?"

1 -- City governments were the first to step up: 26.3%

2 -- Individuals in the community chipped in: 23.7%

3 -- Local banks and other employers contributed: 15.8%

4 -- ARPA and CARES federal programs were used: 13.2%

5 -- Other sources included tourist and hotel tax reserves, Chamber of Commerce/Downtown Association/Main Street budgets, and other county and state funding.

Over the two years, Sponsors contributed $2.7 million for bonus cards, incentivizing additional Community eGift card purchases by town residents of $4.1 million. Grant and employee reward programs added up to an additional $5.4 million. Gift cards and bonus cards can only be spent at local merchants in the Sponsors' communities. These purchases often replaced national brand gift card purchases as Sponsors redirected their budgets to "shop local."

Local financial institutions and employers support their communities

"Both Prudential Financial, Inc. and Audible are strong supporters of the community in which their employees live and work," said Tamara Remedios, Owner of Xplore Communications, who organized the Newark, NJ Community Card program. "When I approached Prudential with the idea of sponsoring a bonus program, they were all in, contributing $25k. They especially appreciated that their contributions incentivized additional purchases by Newark residents of 2.5x more. Plus, the bonus cards get residents into the 100+ shops and restaurants who are participating in the program before they expire - so it's a quick boost to our local economy when our businesses needed it the most. Audible also jumped on board to give $10k to support marketing and special programs for the Newark Gift Card. Both institutions are the benchmark of being true community partners."

Towns multiply their federal grant monies by engaging residents in shopping local

Last month, Yiftee hosted a webinar featuring two live community case studies where CARES and ARPA funds were used as sponsorships. Like Newark NJ, Concord CA hosted 3 bonus program campaigns at the holiday seasons of both 2020 and 2021, and a mid-year summer 2021 program as well. The $40,000 in federal grants were complemented by $80,000 in resident purchases for a total benefit of $120,000 going to 65 local businesses.

Cutler Bay, FL took a different approach with their CARES funding. They distributed $500 Community eGift cards to 300 residents in need, and the cards could only be spent at qualified small businesses in Cutler Bay. They saw 97.3% of the value redeemed within 3 months - a double win for the residents and businesses with the same funding.

The Yiftee survey documented some great advice for other communities considering similar programs, such as "Give them [Sponsors] as many perks as possible! Put their logo on all marketing materials, spotlight them on social media and encourage them to buy gift cards for their employees or raffle them off as prizes throughout the year" and "Have a sign at their [merchants'] cash registers to remind purchasers to use their e-gift card at that establishment."

The Bemidji, MN Chamber of Commerce promotes a locally owned bank, grocery store and telephone cooperative as Sponsors, celebrating their community spirit with logos on the website, and recognition in local press and marketing materials. This way, the community knows and can appreciate that these Sponsors are covering program costs for people who purchase their Community eGift Cards. Their card works at 49 different shops and restaurants in the area, and the program is free for the merchants to participate.

About Yiftee, Keep Local Dollars Local

Yiftee serves almost 400 communities and 13,000 local businesses with simple, secure, PoS-independent eGift Cards that keep local dollars local - more than $27M in pandemic years 2020 and 2021. The company works with Chambers of Commerce, Downtowns, Main Streets, Business Improvement Districts, city governments and other local organizations to create "Community Cards," branded for the community and redeemable at 10s to 100s of local businesses. Organizations and individuals purchase them online and send them via email, text or print to friends, family and co-workers to support their local businesses. There is no cost to the organizers or merchants for the program and it can be set up in just a few days. Yiftee also provides custom-branded cards for individual merchants, franchises, and chains.

More info at https://www.yiftee.com/ and/or email: sales@yiftee.com

Twitter: @Yiftee, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yiftee/

MULTIMEDIA:

VIDEO (YouTube): https://youtu.be/9qhm8D2NPaI

In pandemic years 2020 and 2021, more than 100 of Yiftee's almost 400 communities who use its Community eGift Card platform ran dedicated gift card grant or bonus programs to benefit their small businesses, helping them stay afloat. Who were the "hometown heroes" that sponsored these programs during tough times, and continue to do so?

Related link: https://yiftee.com/

Yiftee Surpasses 200 Community eGift Card Programs

MENLO PARK, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Yiftee, Inc., a leader since 2012 in local business eGift Cards, celebrates having implemented over 200 Community eGift Card Programs across the United States. Consumers, corporations, schools, hospitals and other organizations showed their heartfelt support of small business by buying millions of dollars' worth of cards that can only be spent in their local communities. Yiftee closed out 2020 on a high note, with many communities making over $100,000 in revenue for their local businesses.

The Yiftee Community Card Program has been helping small businesses across the U.S. weather the Covid-19 storm by offering a multi-brand eGift card that can be used at many participating businesses in a cohesive geography - a city, town, neighborhood or business improvement district. Branded for the community, these cards have many uses from personal to corporate, in addition to making the giver feel good for their connection to and support of the community. With potentially hundreds of choices for how to spend the card, multi-brand Community Cards are more versatile and valuable to buyers than any single-brand card.

Bonus Programs Multiply Funds Going to Local Businesses

Community Cards are available in places of all shapes and sizes. Many communities were able to run promotions during the holiday period, with bonus funds available from local employers, city governments, corporate donors, visitor bureaus and state and federal funding programs such as the CARES Act.

The Amherst Chamber of Commerce and Erie County, NY partnered to launch the Shop 716 card to support their almost one million residents and over 700 participating independent businesses. They launched in mid-November with a free promotional match utilizing CARES Act funding that resulted in an astounding $1.1 million in sales in eight weeks. The incredibly successful program was well received by the community and the merchants stressing the urgency to support local for the pandemic stricken businesses.

Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz expressed the continued need, "While we continue to balance the safety of the community and the much-needed commerce for our local independent businesses, the Shop 716 program emphasizes the shop local theme encouraging residents to assist in this effort. Keeping our businesses open helps them employ our family, friends and neighbors." Yiftee implemented six-figure holiday bonus programs in Boulder CO, Fenton MI, Frisco CO, Nashville TN, Royal Oak MI, Whatcom County WA and others.

On a smaller scale, in North Bay Village, FL, population 8,300, Community Card organizer Cynder Haines commented, "Yiftee has made it easy for us to distribute tens of thousands of dollars to support our residents and local businesses, and we're already seeing thousands of dollars more being spent. Yiftee is a great service, and it adds a lot of value for us as a small city. Thank you so much!" Yiftee has Community Cards in many more small towns like Del Mar CA, Hastings on Hudson NY, Lancaster SC, Pleasantville IA and Zelienople PA.

Employees Get Many Choices

"Evans Bank appreciates the leadership of Erie County and the Amherst Chamber in quickly mobilizing this program to support Erie County businesses in response to COVID-19," said David J. Nasca, President & CEO of Evans Bank. "We provided Shop 716 gift cards to all of our associates during the holidays and they greatly appreciated the opportunity to assist the stressed small businesses in our community when they most needed it. We continue to encourage our customers to shop local and our business clients to participate in the program."

Annette Cornish, Management Assistant, sent several dozen Downtown Hillsboro OR cards on behalf of her organization. "I have had feedback from several employees." she said. "They are very excited about the gifts and being able to support our downtown vendors. Your gift has been a morale boost during these hard pandemic times."

Simple to Create and No Cost for Organizers or Merchants

Communities interested in implementing a Community Card program can sign up for a demo. Starting a Community Card program is simple and Yiftee provides plenty of support and launch materials. Community Card programs are free for organizers and participating business and require no special equipment or PoS integration. They are redeemed as digital Mastercards(r) and merchants are paid by their Mastercard bank, subject to Mastercard's normal card-not-present transaction fee.

About Yiftee, Keep Local Dollars Local

Yiftee serves more than 200 communities and 10,000 local businesses with simple, secure, PoS-independent eGift Cards that keep local dollars local. The company works with Chambers of Commerce, Downtowns, Main Streets, Business Improvement Districts and other local organizations to create "Community Cards," branded for the community and redeemable at 10s to 100s of local businesses. Organizations and individuals purchase them online and send them via email, text or print to friends, family and co-workers to support their local businesses. There is no cost to the organizers or merchants for the program and it can be set up in just a few days. Yiftee also provides custom-branded cards for individual merchants, franchises and chains.

More info at https://yiftee.com/ or email sales@yiftee.com.

*IMAGE link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/21-0126s2p-yiftee-300dpi.jpg

*CAPTION: Yiftee's locally branded community eGift cards work exclusively at shops and restaurants in an area, funneling millions of much needed dollars into small businesses.

Yiftee, Inc., a leader since 2012 in local business eGift Cards, celebrates having implemented over 200 Community eGift Card Programs across the United States. Consumers, corporations, schools, hospitals and other organizations showed their heartfelt support of small business by buying millions of dollars' worth of cards that can only be spent in their local communities.

Related link: https://yiftee.com/