Kiosks get play in stored value card industry

According to ePaynews.com:

"Although still a nascent market, stored-value cards have evolved into two distinct segments, open-loop and closed-loop card products. Since closed-loop cards are a proprietary product, Celent, like other analysts, believes open-loop (universal) stored-value cards will gain greatest market share in time. Banks that issue gift cards incur risk in light of market alternatives, price elasticity and distribution hurdles according to Celent, but payroll cards may be a valuable niche in terms of soliciting hard-to-reach consumers and helping corporations meet depository requirements.

"In the retail sector, stored-value cards are becoming a multi-channel sales incentive, with toy seller Toys ’R’ Us expanding the reach of its stored-value card program to most of its web sites. After finding that online redemption of its stored-value cards were the reason its Q1 2005 sales grew by 21 per cent to USD 64 million, up from USD 53 million in the year-before period, Toys ‘R’ Us is extending the program to other sites under its umbrella. To promote year-round toy buying, the retailer adapted its back-end systems to support online sales made with its stored-value card."

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