Gift Cards Celebrated As Reward of Choice at UKGCVA Hall Of Fame Event

The sun was out for the UK Gift Cards and Voucher Association’s Hall of Fame event on the 12th July and the array of winners has shown that gift cards for business are absolutely a hot topic in rewards right now.

Research by financial services company American Express has found that 94 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have gifted rewards to their employees and key findings from “Gift Card Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016-2024,” has suggested that the global gift cards market, which is valued just over US$ 307 bn at present, will progress at an impressive 10.8% CAGR during the forecast period, 2016-2024. It has also indicated that demand for gift cards is expected to gain traction in the corporate sector, which has “actively adopted gift cards as an incentive to employees for their credible performances.”

That was certainly the case last night, with the biggest UK businesses in attendance celebrating success in this ‘evergreen’ reward space.

Winners included Warren Humphries and the team at M&S, winner of this year’s Special Contribution Award,  Nitecrest  -winner of the most innovative technology award ,  Incomm Europe and Currys for runner up tech award, Debenhams for Gift Card Programme of the Year and Thomas Cook – winner of the most creative marketing campaign 2016/17.

Reward Cloud scooped the ‘Hottest Newcomer’ award as a business that has joined the renowned gift card association in the last 12 months who has already demonstrated their impact and contribution to the industry as a whole.

Gareth Gillatt, Co-Founder and CEO of Reward Cloud said of the accolade:

“Given this is our first year within the UKGCVA we’re extremely honoured and proud to win this award. As a newcomer to the industry we’ve been overwhelmed with how welcoming the key players have been towards our product and technology. Our continued growth is thanks to the ongoing support and adoption of our API platform by numerous retailers and partners. We see this award as market validation against the business model we’ve created here in the UK market.”

The event was hosted at a fabulous venue on Crown land, home to the government’s wine cellars since 1922, complete with a jazz band as well as prizes and sponsorship support from Harrods, Sodexo and Hotels.com.