Blackhawk Nabs Dutch Gifting Provider in Latest Expansion Move (Nov. 25, 2015)
Blackhawk Network continues to expand its gifting offerings and global reach with the purchase of DIDIX Gifting & Promotions, a Netherlands-based provider of leisure-themed prepaid gift and promotional cards. DIDIX offers prepaid cards that can be used to pay for services at regional retailers, restaurants, cinemas and spas across the Netherlands, U.K., Germany and Belgium. The cards are sold through retail, online and B2B channels—and now will be offered throughout Blackhawk’s extensive distribution network, the company said. “This acquisition expands Blackhawk Network’s growing footprint in international markets and strengthens our position as an innovator in the gift card space,” said Matthew Howe, managing director, Europe, Blackhawk Network.
Blackhawk has been expanding its global footprint across and striking partnerships to expand consumer access to digital gift cards. The company’s Retailo GmbH subsidiary is integrated with Germany’s Deutsche Kreditbank AG, offering digital gifts directly to the bank’s customers through online banking. Blackhawk also partnered with Barclays in the U.K. to enable e-gift purchases through the mobile P2P service Pingit. Blackhawk also partnered with Canadian telecom company Rogers Communications to open Blackhawk’s digital gifting platform to users of Rogers’s mobile wallet last year. And in 2013, Blackhawk began offering its e-gift cards through the PayPal mobile app. The company considers digital gifts an opportunity for retailers to reach new groups of buyers, rather than cannibalizing traditional gift cards. Blackhawk was named Change Agent of the Year in the 2015 Paybefore Awards Europe for expanding e-gifting in digital and mobile channels.
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