Appreciate launches UK’s first fully digital multi-brand gift card

Liverpool-based gifting and engagement company, Appreciate Group, has launched the UK’s first fully digital multi-brand gift card with add-to-wallet capabilities.

Appreciate Group has collaborated with payments technology business CleverGift to launch the UK-first technology, which is available for consumers and business now through highstreetvouchers.com, the nation’s most popular online voucher store.

The Select Digital Gift Card “completely reimagines” how gift cards should work, enabling people to send cards instantly and directly to family, friends or colleagues by email, SMS, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, said Appreciate.

With no postage costs or waste, the gift card converts to a secure Prepaid Mastercard once activated by the recipient and they can then spend the full value of the gift card in-store or by simply tapping their mobile wallet at more than 6,400 outlets of 61 of the most popular retail brands in the UK.

By enabling the recipient to check their balances at any time, the gift card also removes the age-old problem of people forgetting which gift cards they’ve used or what balance they have remaining, said the group.

Ian O’Doherty, Appreciate chief executive, said: “We’re proud to be the first company in the UK to bring this type of technology to market.

“It’s a real game-changer in many ways as it completely reimagines how gift cards should work in a mobile-enabled world.

“We want to make celebrating, rewarding or creating moments of joy – whether that be buying a gift card for someone special or as a thank you to a colleague – to be incredibly simple, and the Select Digital Gift Card does that.”

Appreciate Group, which owns and operates the highstreetvouchers.com brand, says it is already trusted by millions of consumers and businesses to help them create moments they can treasure and remember, whether they are giving, receiving or experiencing something special.

CleverGift is a payments technology business with offices in Dublin, Ireland. It’s chief executive and founder, Kealan Lennon, said: “Appreciate Group has shown bold ambition and a real commitment to testing the limits of innovation, which shows amazing forward thinking.

“The Select Digital Gift Card takes the concept of gifting truly into the mobile era and gives customers the maximum freedom of choice wherever and whenever they chose to use their gifts.

“Contactless payments and mobile wallets represent a huge – and growing – share of payments and now is the time to embrace this type of technology.

“We’re proud to be working alongside Appreciate Group to launch this product and to help them strengthen their market-leading position in the UK.”

For customers’ security and safety, access to the gift card via mobile will only be available by using two-factor authentication.