As the ‘Ember’ period gradually sets in, Park ‘n’ Shop, a flagship retail brand of Artee Industries, is poised to give shoppers a unique experience while shopping as it unveils its ‘Gift Card’, a chip-based plastic card with security features, which enables shoppers choose from a wide variety of items such as electronics, furniture, fresh and lifestyle products like watches, perfumes and jewellery etc. at their convenience.
The benefits of the Park ‘n’ Shop SPAR gift card recently launched in collaboration with First City Monument Bank (FCMB) ensures that the shopper is able to carry out transactions against any kind of purchase across all Park ‘n’ Shop/SPAR outlets nationwide with no extra charge incurred.
Speaking with BusinessDay, Prakash Keswani, managing director, Park ‘n’ Shop said that the chip based plastic card provides security and convenience of carrying and use. While this innovation is more secured than paper gift vouchers, Keswani disclosed that the plastic gift card can be redeemed over multiple transactions.
According to Keswani, “The card is customised with either the individual’s brand /company Logo with any unique amount for any quantity of cards (the minimum value of gift card start from N 5,000 onwards). The card can be used within an organisation to reward their employees on various occasions such as wedding gifts, birthday and marriage anniversaries, long service awards, target achievement awards, company anniversaries, and other numerous celebrations.
“This card can also be used to patronise esteemed customer/client who has been loyal to one. All that is required is for the client to send the value and number of card intended to be bought. A sales invoice is raised and sent to the client with the bank details. The client does the fund transfer or issues the cheque in favour of Artee Industries Limited along with the purchase order. For customised cards (Logo Card), the lead time is 8 working days from receipt of cheque.”
Anil Thakkar, corporate sales manager, noted that this new initiation is better than traditional gifting practices which involve selecting gift items, procuring from various sources and also spending on logistics cost in terms manpower, money and time, all of which can be demanding for any organisation.
According to Thakkar, the receiver may or may not actually appreciate the gift item.
“Picking up a relevant gift which matches the liking/ requirement/need of the receiver is actually a big challenge whereas Park ‘n’ Shop SPAR gift card gives a hassle free gifting solution with the built-in flexibility for the receiver to choose from a wide variety of products,” Thakkar added.
A peep into Artee Industries reveals that after acquiring the master franchise of SPAR, the world’s largest supermarket chain in 2010, the company rolled out stores under Park ‘n’ Shop SPAR brand name.
Over the years, the company has built up a huge client base of corporate organisations. Besides sourcing their varied needs, major corporate firms across industries use the gift voucher for various internal (employee) as well as external (customers/channel) organisation who use them as reward incentives.
While retail forms the core business activity at Artee Group, most of its businesses in the consumption space are built around retail. The group currently operates around several stores spread over large retail space. Present in the value and lifestyle segments, the group’s retail formats cater to a vast majority of the entire consumption expenditure of Nigerian consumers.
Anne Agbaje
