Blackhawk Network Continues Legacy of Disruption with Launch of Innovative Payment Solutions Suite

Pay4It integrates physical and digital payments that unlock immediate opportunities to drive revenue, loyalty and customer acquisition

Digital payments transformation has accelerated in 2020, driving massive adoption and expansion of digital wallets, mobile apps and contactless payments. Helping to drive this payments revolution, Blackhawk Network announced a global suite of solutions for merchants and retailers that meaningfully connects physical and digital payments. The result: a truly seamless, omnichannel payment experience for consumers; more revenue, new customer acquisition channels and enhanced loyalty for partners.

“Retailers’ and merchants’ businesses changed instantly this year, and Blackhawk has responded with a product suite that brings once-disparate physical, digital and stored value payments together, keeping brands and consumers connected in a seamless way,” said Helena Mao, VP of global product strategy at Blackhawk Network. “As a global leader in bringing brands closer to consumers with innovative payment experiences, Blackhawk continues to innovate its digital payment platform through our Pay4It suite of solutions that provide our partners with a complete end-to-end, omnichannel experience for their customers.”

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The new suite of solutions addresses key pain points in the payment experience today. More importantly, it provides expanded payment choice to customers and can improve partners’ ability to acquire and retain customers:

• Bridging the gap between cash and digital payments by digitizing cash transactions for merchants with underbanked, unbanked and cash-preferring customers. This service provides cash customers with a simple connection to the digital world by allowing them to easily add cash to a digital wallet, mobile app or account, or make payments for digital goods with cash.

The demand for a cash transition solution is strong; 230 million private-sector workers did not have bank accounts and received wage payments in cash in 2019. According to a recent report, 69% of survey respondents from eight countries say that the ability to use cash is one of the most important factors to consider when paying for things. And many digital wallet users (49%) would welcome the ability to add cash to it at a physical retail store. Another study reported that if shoppers were able to add funds to a digital wallet in store, 68% of them would shop in the store more often than they normally would and 57% said they would spend more money at the store than they normally would.

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• Giving consumers complete access to their spending power by enabling additional digital wallets for omnichannel checkout and transforming loyalty points, rewards and other assets into purchasing power. This service provides customers with more choices to pay regardless of where and how they shop. Merchants can gain access to new customers, untapped balance and incremental revenue.

Mobile payments at point of sale are expected to grow by nearly 20% over the next four years. Additionally, six in 10 shoppers surveyed said they would like to pay for things in store by using points they’ve earned in their loyalty programs using their smartphones. Blackhawk’s new solution offers a way to help consumers unlock their payment options from a wide variety of places including myriad digital wallets, loyalty programs, or other types of rewards and points by turning them into something immediately usable in store. This first-of-its-kind solution helps brands drive revenue through their branded ecosystems, foster greater customer affinity and acquire new customers.

• Expanding acquisition channels for digital gift cards. This solution affords retailers the luxury of a gift card selection that is not constrained by physical space. It provides merchants the ability to engage their customers at every touchpoint and offer a variety of digital gift card content for purchase. And most importantly, it gives customers access to a broader selection of digital content and a convenient purchase experience.

The global gift card market is expected to grow by more than 15% over the next seven years and the growth of digital cards is far outpacing growth of physical gift cards around the world. Blackhawk’s new suite of solutions allows consumers the option to buy an assortment of digital gift cards from non-traditional locations, creating an “endless aisle” during their in-store experience, and even out of store.

“The Pay4It suite emphasizes how the power of payments can help our partners create true engagement and added value for their customers,” said Mao. “Businesses know they must invest in their digital platforms and ensure payment option parity across their physical and digital channels, while also delivering a seamless, truly omnichannel experience. It’s exciting to support our partners to meet this moment.”

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