Grocer Tests Gift Card Kiosk
An upstate New York supermarket is testing a kiosk that lets shoppers print their own gift cards.
The Reward & Gift Card kiosk offers store-brand and third-party gift cards that shoppers can personalize with the recipient’s name and occasion using full-color graphics.
Shoppers use a touch screen to choose a design and dollar value for the card, then type in the names for the card’s “to” and “from” sections. The gift card is printed, activated and dispensed by the kiosk, with a receipt. Users pay for gift cards via credit card.
The system, now testing in the Green Hills Market grocery store in Syracuse, NY, has been well-received by shoppers and staff, who spend less time processing gift cards at the service desk.
“We love the convenience, and shoppers enjoy being able to add a friend’s name as well as their own to each gift card,” said Green Hills proprietor Gary Hawkins, in a statement. “It brings warmth and personality back into the process.”
The stand-alone kiosk is operated by Pay By Touch, whose biometric payment system continues its aggressive rollout in supermarkets this year. San Francisco-based Pay By Touch piggybacks retailers’ loyalty card programs to let shoppers pay for their purchases by touching a computer screen that reads their fingerprints.
Retailers can also use the gift card kiosk to let shoppers join their loyalty program and print their own cards.
Pay By Touch will present the kiosk to retailers at the Food Marketing Institute show in Chicago later this week.
