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Instore: WHSmith joins forces with Coinstar
Coinstar Limited, the company behind the supermarket-based coin-counting service, today announced that it has signed major U.K. retailer WHSmith to its Gift Card Mall programme. WHSmith is the first high street retailer in the United Kingdom to deliver a Gift Card Mall programme, initially made popular in the United States.
"By teaming up with WHSmith we have access to one of the biggest names on the British high street," said Alex Camara, Coinstar Limited Managing Director. "The U.K. Gift Card Mall programme represents an important new development in Coinstar's UK product offering and allows us to share our gift card expertise with WHSmith."
The Gift Card Mall consists of a display rack of popular high street retailers including department stores, clothing, and electronics, as well as experience cards such as holidays, sporting events, and movie going. The programme gives the host retailer an innovative, turnkey product to drive incremental traffic, sales and profits into the store. In addition, it also creates a new way for consumers to buy gifts in the form of gift cards for their friends and family.
"As leaders in the gift card market it is a logical move for us to sign with Coinstar's Gift Card Mall service. Coinstar's U.S. experience will put WHSmith into an even stronger position to take advantage of this rapidly growing market," said Ian Sanders, Commercial Development Director at WHSmith.
With the U.K. gift card market expected to grow from £3 million in 2005 to approximately £2.1 billion in 2007 (source: Giftex Research 2005), Coinstar's U.S. experience with Gift Card Mall will be crucial in this growing area.
The programme will launch in November with a nationwide roll-out in more than 540 WHSmith's stores. Additional U.K. retailers are expected to be added to the programme over the coming months.
22 November 2006