Christmas shopping made easy with new Gift Station

Christmas shopping made easy with new Gift Station®

Shopping for gifts is about to get a whole lot quicker and easier this Christmas with the launch of Ezi-Pay's Gift Station®.

The Gift Station is a one-stop stand that holds a huge range of gift cards from New Zealand’s favourite retailers. The electronic plastic cards are the modern version of a gift voucher, and are the same shape and size as a credit card.

At a Gift Station, shoppers can select gift cards from more than 60 leading brands such as Bond & Bond, Pit Stop, R&R Sport, Liquorland, Jeanswest, Principals, Kodak, Paperplus, Life Pharmacy and many more.

Ezi-Pay CEO Dave Spicer says the Gift Station one-stop card concept has never been seen before in New Zealand, and will change the way Kiwis think about shopping.

“These days, everyone is time-poor,” Mr Spicer says. “But with the Gift Station, you don’t need to spend hours trekking around town to pick up vouchers from a load of different retailers – you can now do all your Christmas shopping while you’re getting your groceries.”

“From Walker & Hall jewellery to a Total Experience bungy jump or Christmas champagne from Liquorland, you’re never stuck trying to find the perfect present,” he adds. “A Gift Station card retains the element of surprise and ensures whoever receives the card gets the excitement of choosing their ideal gift at a store you know they like shopping at.”

Ezi-Pay’s Gift Stations are being rolled out across the country throughout November in New World, Pak ‘n’ Save, Paper Plus, Take Note, Life Pharmacy and selected Four Square stores – more than 400 stores in total.

Gift Station gift cards hold no value until activated, meaning they can be safely displayed. To purchase, shoppers simply choose a card, choose a value and take the card to the checkout. The magstripe card is then swiped through an Ezi-Pay Eftpos terminal, activated and loaded with the selected value.

“It couldn’t be easier,” says Mr Spicer. “Gift Station cards can also be recharged, so they’re a great way to save towards big-ticket items or top up corporate or staff tabs.

“They’re also great for mums and dads who want to know where their kids are spending their pocket money,” he adds. “For instance, you can top up a Hoyts Cinema Gift Station card for your kids to make sure they catch the latest blockbuster instead of spending the ticket money on sweets!”

Until now, the gift card market in New Zealand has been relatively small. Mr Spicer says this is about to change with the launch of Gift Stations.

“The US gift card market is now worth in excess of $80 billion per annum,” he says. “More than half of these sales come from gift cards sold through one-stop stands similar to Ezi-Pay’s Gift Stations.

“Understandably we’re hugely excited about introducing the Gift Station concept to New Zealand. We estimate that the gift card market in New Zealand will reach an estimated worth of $860 million by 2009.”

A full list of Ezi-Pay Gift Station partner retailers is available at www.ezipay.co.nz.

ENDS

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