CVS/pharmacy Promotes Gift Card Exchange with Plastic Jungle (Dec. 4, 2012)
Dec. 4, 2012
In time for the holiday season, CVS/pharmacy stores are promoting a gift card exchange through a partnership with Plastic Jungle. CVS customers with a smartphone scan a QR code in the store that launches their mobile Web browsers and takes them to cvsgiftcard.plasticjungle.com. To exchange their cards, consumers enter the card number and PIN of their unredeemed gift cards. (Consumers also can access the Website from any Web-enabled device.) Plastic Jungle acts as the clearinghouse for the card sales, issuing a CVS e-gift card in an amount based on the unredeemed card’s value in Plastic Jungle’s marketplace. When the exchange is complete, the consumer discards the physical gift card, which no longer has value.
“Initially, both smartphone users and non-smartphone users will be required to print out the [e-gift card] and present it at the point of sale,” Margaret Mackenzie, Plastic Jungle CEO, tells Paybefore. “CVS is actively working on allowing smartphone users to use the e-code directly from their phones at the point of sale. Plastic Jungle and CVS think it’s an important step.” Mackenzie says Plastic Jungle is talking with other retailers about programs similar to the one with CVS.
“While we believe the primary benefit is to the CVS customer, allowing them to increase their CVS spending power while in the CVS store, it’s certainly a win for CVS and Plastic Jungle as well,” she says. “CVS sells an additional gift card, driving additional sales . . . [and] Plastic Jungle acquires more card inventory for its exchange on www.plasticjungle.com.”
