Last year HTA launched their new Gift Card scheme to their membership.
Introducing National Garden Gift Card is a natural progression from vouchers and the card-based scheme has several advantages over the voucher scheme:
- Improved Cash Flow – Buy as you go (no upfront payment)
- Reduced Administration – No postage or reconciliation
- Visual Impact – On prominent display
- Flexibility – The plastic cards are un-denominated
Swan has just been through the second phase of accreditation, the first being able to sell and accept payment through the EPoS application. The second phase is to lookup the balance on the Gift Cards at the till. Since the Gift Card scheme is operated by a third party it has to be fully PCI compliant similar to credit and debit cards.
Chris Marsden-Jones, Swan Business Development Director, says “Keeping our software updates in line with the HTA’s forward thinking strategy has many advantages for our Garden centre customers, the industry and our relationship with the HTA. Overall it’s a win win situation.”
