GIFT CARDS: MACY’S EXPERIMENTS WITH CUSTOMIZING KIOSKS

BY KELLY NOLAN

Macy’s is testing customizable gift card kiosks at two of its 850 retail locations. The kiosks, located in the Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, Calif., and the Union Square Mall in San Francisco, allow customers not only to choose the value of their gift card, but also to add their own personalized photo, message and color background.

“The only drawback to giving gift cards as gifts is that they can be seen as impersonal,” said Jeff Keller, chief customer officer of Cardways, the company whose technology was used to operate the kiosks. “We were trying to change that with these kiosks. So far, we’ve had a tremendous response from Macy’s and customers.”

About 10 kiosks are located at each store in highly trafficked areas. The kiosks are equipped with digital cameras that allow customers to take their own impromptu photos as well as the equipment that allows them to upload photos from a disc or their own digital camera.

Macy’s has not announced plans to expand the customizable gift card kiosk program into other locations. However, Keller says that the retailer has been extremely enthusiastic about the success of the kiosks during the holiday season. In 2007, the gift card kiosks will allow customers to choose various clip art photos to add to their gift cards, as well as patterned backgrounds, rather than just a solid color.

Cardways also provides the ability for customers to personalize gift cards from other major retailers, like Circuit City, Toys “R” Us and Linens ’N Things, via the Cardways Web site.