It’s clear to everyone that digital shopping experiences are here to stay, but brick-and- mortar retail still has an important role to play, according to Blackhawk Network VP of Global Product Strategy Helena Mao. The key: retailers should stop separating physical and digital experiences and instead focus on a single great experience that is accessible anywhere.
This means creating more accessibility points, especially for cash-based customers. Physical stores can serve as an “on-ramp” for digital experiences. Customers can walk in and turn their cash into digital currency. They get an easy way to shop online using their cash, and stores get eager shoppers and foot traffic.
We’ve already seen this happening during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden shift toward digital gift cards boosted digital gift card sales by 20% in 2020. But there’s still $10 trillion in cash reserves in circulation worldwide, and people want to spend it. Retailers who give customers more ways to shop with them will be best-positioned to see those investments pay off.
This is a summary of the article “Gift Cards Emerge as Digital Payments On-Ramp for Cash- Based Customers” posted by PYMNTS.com here:
https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2021/gift-cards-emerge-as-on-ramp-for-cash-based-customers-to-embrace-digital-payments
