eGifter, the eGifting company announced today the launch of its Bitcoin Storefront, a quick-to-market solution for retailers and merchants who want to make an immediate, low-cost entry into the emerging world of cryptocurrency without any risk of fraud or bitcoin price fluctuations.
eGifter was a pioneer in cryptocurrencies, having accepted bitcoin as a payment option since 2013 in the eGifter Marketplace, where eGifter sells almost 300 brands of digital gift cards directly to consumers. The Company has since established a loyal following of bitcoin customers who convert their bitcoin to gift cards for everything from groceries to gasoline, airline tickets to apparel and electronics to entertainment.
“Given our history and experience with bitcoin, this is a natural extension of our white-label eCommerce platform for retailer gift card programs,” said Tyler Roye, eGifter Co-founder & CEO. “With all the buzz around cryptocurrencies now, we have seen significant interest among retailers for such a solution.”
For the over 50 major national retailers who are already on the eGifter Platform, or for any of the major brands that have their gift cards in eGifter’s consumer Marketplace, a Bitcoin Storefront can be launched in as little as two weeks using existing processor or distributer integrations.
Powering bitcoin payments is eGifter partner, BitPay, the leading bitcoin payment processor. “eGifter has been a longtime BitPay merchant and a pioneer in accepting bitcoin in their industry. They’re now pioneering in the gift card space again by bringing bitcoin payments to this new venture for businesses,” said Rory Desmond, BitPay’s head of North American and Asia-Pacific business development. “eGifter’s BitPay-integrated platform will make it simple and seamless for eGifter’s brands to sell to bitcoin users around the world.”
Many retailers and merchants are curious about cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin, but are not yet ready to make a significant development commitment to add bitcoin as a payment option. By using eGifter to add bitcoin as a payment option for gift cards, merchants can measure their customers’ interest in paying with bitcoin. “What makes this work so well is that our solution provides an instant exchange of bitcoin into dollars,” said Roye. “By using eGifter’s Bitcoin Storefront, retailers do not have to handle the bitcoin or risk being exposed to its price fluctuations.”
The solution is available for eGifter’s existing clients and any brand with a gift card program, whether it be physical or digital. eGifter’s Bitcoin Storefront is a turnkey hosted mobile and web solution. It can run in parallel with any other gift card sales system. eGifter can also provide its complete Gift Card Experience™ to power a brand’s entire online gift card sales program with traditional payment options as well as bitcoin.
A substantial benefit of eGifter’s solution is that bitcoin sales are not subject to chargebacks like credit card sales. “This is an important benefit, given that gift cards – especially digital gift cards – are a major target for fraudsters, a risk that can be difficult and costly to manage,” said Roye.
As with all eGifter services, Bitcoin Storefront is mobile-responsive and ADA compliant. The Company plans to announce its first launch partner in Q1-2018 and anticipates many brands will follow in the coming months.
