Blog: Quality Gift Boxes

Target (TGT) prides itself on defining the cutting edge among big-box retailers. Now it is taking this attitude into cyberspace.

Consumers can now download gift cards onto a site access from mobile devices, such as phones and Blackberries. By making its gift cards mobile, Target takes care of a couple of basic consumer issues.

First, customers don’t have to worry about losing the gift cards because a physical, losable card is no longer necessary to redeem a gift.

The Target Mobile GiftCard  saves gift card information in a PIN number-secured account. The money can be accessed though the Target.com mobile site.

Second, there is convenience. Customers can use Target Mobile GiftCards right at the retailer’s checkout stands to add value. The technology also can handle multiple card and allows consumers to update their accounts whenever they want to add money.

Target will be encouraging customers to use their mobile devices to check product availability, find store locations, manage gift registry accounts, browse the weekly circular ad, and receive text and e-mail deal notifications.

Target contends that it is the first major retailer that can scan bar codes from mobile devices in all of its stores. As a result, it has declared itself a leader in mobile retail.

That’s a good thing, a new study suggests. Sterling Commerce, a division of AT&T (T), just released a study on electronic retailing and asked consumers if they might use mobile phones to shop. Although these capabilities are fairly new, 27 percent of respondents said they were extremely likely to compare prices using a mobile device; 24 percent said they were likely to check if an item is in stock; 23 percent to access information about an item or to check another retailer on an out-of-stock product and 13 percent to order.

Consumers 18 to 44–people Target would like to establish as regular, long-term patrons– were the most likely to use their mobile phones for shopping. So, with its mobile initiatives, Target is in position to give a big chunk of the consuming public something it wants. And,  the cell phone connection makes it appear hip and ahead of the pack even to consumers who can’t or won’t use them.

@shogunmaster Actually, stores that sell gift cards are making money on the fact that you HAVE to spend that money in their stores and that most likely you'll spend more than what the gift card is worth.

I worked for Best Buy for 3 years, up until last year, and gift cards contribute to a lot of income for stores, but not as much as credit cards/financing services they offer. They also make a mint on selling needless services like "PC optimization", "Customization", "Mac optimization", "extended warranties, aka Black Tie Protection, aka rip off because 7 out of 10 times, you won't get your money's worth out of that deal". I worked in Geek Squad, it was "more important" that we attached all that we could, get a credit card app, and sold these needless services so that corporate could make fat bank while we did "repairs", "diagnostics", "optimizations", and so forth before we even touched systems for "repair", all for $11.00 an hour.

If you noticed a lot of quotes above, it's because most the time, at least in my store, it wasn't actually anything to do with repair work or ensuring everything was set up properly, it was about hitting certain goals before leaving for the day so you could keep your job. And all those computers that had issues? Yeah, I was the lucky bastard that had to diagnose and fix them, which consisted of running a few low level tests and then shipping it to "Geek City" in KY for them to do repairs as per the training our "Supervisor" put forth (who came from appliances or home theater and had no service or repair experience in the PC industry). Needless to say, I went back to work at Quanta, doing repairs on HP and Compaq laptops, you know, actual honest to goodness PC repair.