Consumer Insights
Few products in the United States have shown such tremendous growth as gift cards. In less than 10 years, they have become the most requested gift item on holiday wish lists (National Retail Federation, 2009). Prepaid cards for everyday payments and other financial services are growing even more than gift cards and represent a huge opportunity.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. – Peter F. Drucker
At Blackhawk Network, we take on the responsibility to understand the evolving needs and desires of current and potential consumers. We understand the consumer. That is what gives us, and our partners, the winning advantage. Our research department, Consumer Insights, focuses on developing proprietary research that helps us and our partners to:
- Develop the most competitive and desirable new products across a wide range of prepaid categories
- Select the right brands and products for their Gift Card Mall™
- Position prepaid products to the correct demographics
- Create messaging and marketing that is an effective call to action
- Expand effectively in new markets and categories
Knowing your customers makes you successful. It enables you to create products that sell, create ads that mean something, develop promotions that create action, and build relevant positioning and packaging. Blackhawk’s Consumer Insights group is the partner that delivers success.
By partnering with industry research groups as well as having a leading research team in house, Blackhawk has issued several extensive research studies to uncover the characteristics of prepaid and gift card shoppers. Most recently, Blackhawk Consumer Insights identified the different purchase motivations and behaviors exhibited by varying groups of gift card shoppers and built research studies that outlined the differences between these groups. It is these types of studies that enable Blackhawk Network and the overall industry to develop a thorough understanding of the underlying reasons for certain purchases and differences in consumer attitudes.
