Corporate gift-giving goes online, with electronic gift certificates from Jacky's

The Jacky's Online Gift Certificate, launched in March 2001, has developed a growing corporate clientele and Jacky's executives expect more businesses to sign up in the coming weeks.

Microsoft Middle East was one of the first companies to subscribe to Jacky's electronic gift certificates - which were to be used to pass on incentives to their resellers in the Middle East. Other corporate subscribers to the Jackys.com Online Gift scheme include TechData, DHL and Citibank.

In addition to the benefit the Jacky's electronic gift certificate offers of being redeemable anywhere in the world, the scheme also has major cost advantages for corporate concerns, said Ashish Panjabi, General Manager - Jacky's Electronics LLC.

"The simple fact is that we have lowered their costs in terms of administration of a reseller reward or an incentive program. If we were not offering this solution to companies, they would have had to buy regular gift certificates, which would be redeemable at a retail store. It could perhaps be that the retail store is far away - for example, for someone working in Ajman redeeming a certificate in Abu Dhabi is not practical," said Panjabi.

What prompts companies to use the Jackys.com gift certificate scheme is because it is a central and easily accessible platform from where gift certificates can be purchased and redeemed.

"The alternative would have been for Microsoft, for instance, to tie up with individual retailers in each country where their products are sold. In this case, whether the person redeeming the certificate is in Oman, Saudi Arabia or Dubai, they are all using one vendor and so Microsoft has to deal with only one party. Moreover, the quality of goods and the range of choice offered to our gift certificate holders is equal in every country," said Panjabi.

Each Jackys.com Gift Certificate holder has the opportunity to purchase potentially 3,000 different items from over 150 brands, through a simple online selection process. The customer selects the product of his/her choice and enters the 14-digit Gift Certificate code number and the four-digit PIN number. After the selection is made the item is shipped to the specified destination.

"Sales of electronics at Jacky's have spurred on through the electronic gift certificates as, in most cases, customers buy more than the stipulated amount of the gift certificate," said Kiran Borkar, Business Development Manager, Jacky's Internet Services Division.

"The gift is generally shipped within 48 hours of receipt of the online order," said Borkar, explaining that Jacky's, which started as mail order business in Hong Kong in the 1970s, has developed a solid infrastructure that supports its e-commerce operations. The Jacky's website is built and hosted on Microsoft's robust e-commerce platform.

Jackys.com also offers non-corporate electronic gift certificates and it is expected that more individual customers will avail of the electronic gift scheme during the upcoming Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) to send specially priced products to their loved ones in other parts of the world. For the shopping festival Jacky's will display products with special DSF prices online at: www.jackys.com.