JOHNSONÕS WORLD
© iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Cards for the
Holidays
Printing personalized gift cards could be the next
big thing. By Steve Johnson
hristmastime is coming. The goose is getting fat. Mr. & Mrs.
American Consumer are bustling about on a spending spree
that is unequaled any other time of the year. Retailers are
cashing in. For those of us who aren't thrilled by shopping,
or who are intimidated buying a gift for those hard-to-please
people in our lives, there have always been gift certifcates.
C
Not all that long ago someone came
up with the bright idea of gift cards.
Unlike the old fashioned paper certificates, gift cards are much easier to use,
easier to track remaining balances, and
harder to lose.
Get Personal
One Word: Plastics!
Surprised that I'm suggesting a plastic card might be superior to a paper
product? You shouldn't be. In Johnson's
World we always chose the best tool for
the job. Of course, the best tool is often
print.
Gift cards are no exception. Don't let
the plastic fool you. Gift cards are most
certainly a printed product. Printing on
plastic, both via lithographic and digital
processes, has become a highly profitable market niche for those printers who
invested the time and money into doing
it right.
Plastic cards have become prevalent
enough to qualify as a major product market. They are tricky to produce
though, so this niche has not become
saturated with the overcapacity that
plagues so many other segments of the
printing business. This means that profitability is much stronger for plastic
cards than for general commercial print.
Once plastic caught on as replacements
for gift certificates, the race was on for
companies to issue these cards. Unlike
certificates, which were often printed
in specific denominations like currency,
gift cards can be preloaded for spe-
50
So, is there a place for the smaller guy
in such a market? Sure. First of all, for
every Amazon or Starbucks that issues
cards by the gazillions there is a Joe's
Deli or Smalltown Bookstore that would
also like to issue cards, but may only
order a few hundred at a time. Someone
needs to service small retailers, and it is
my observation that the big boys
are struggling to do so.
cific amounts or
loaded up at the point of purchase
with any dollar amount that the gift giver desires. This increased their popularity
even more by taking cards beyond the
birthday or holiday arena, since a small
amount made a good thank you gift. A
blog at www.giftcardgirlfriend.com does
nothing but offer tips about new ways
and occasions to give gift cards.
Spread the Wealth
Since these cards are really nothing
more than prepaid charge cards, it was
no surprise that the next thing to come
along was a generic one-time use debit
card. These things carry the concept one
step further. While gift cards are only
redeemable at the store or website of
the issuing merchant, the prepaid debit
cards can be used anywhere that accepts
credit cards.
Once these cards became generic the
really big boys stepped into the ring.
The same folks who print traditional
credit cards now print debit cards by the
millions.
QUICK PRINTING / December 2013
Even more intriguing to me is the
product sold by the folks behind the
Gift Card Girlfriend blog. If you visit
www.giftcards.com you can create
your own custom Mastercard or Visa
gift card with a picture of Fido, Felix,
or that adorable grandchild emblazoned on the front. You can order as
few as one card.
Yes, it is more complex than running
off Christmas letters. No, it is not so hard
that you can't do it if you are willing to
make the effort.
Is this really printing? Oh, yes. It uses
a combination of traditional and specialized equipment, but really no more
specialized than equipment for the direct
mail or packaging markets that pundits
are constantly touting as the saviors of
print.
Print, after all, is really making or
marking almost anything that your clients want in a customized manner. For
the future, that means we must all think
far beyond traditional ink and traditional paper. And the future is now. ◗◗
Steve Johnson is president of Copresco in
Carol Stream, IL; a pioneer in digital printing
technology and print on demand. Contact
him at MyPRINTResource.com/10111496,
or send direct feedback about this column
via www.copresco.com/forms/contact.htm.
w w w. M y P R I N T R e s o u r c e . c o m