Commerce Bank's Fee Free Visa Gift Cards
Commerce Bank has announced some of its early results of its free Commerce Bank Visa Gift Card program, the nation's only fee free complete packaged gift card offered by a bank. Commerce Bank sold more than 220,000 of the cards, worth $14.5 million (an average of about $66 per card), during the recent holiday season.
During the holiday season, Commerce's gift card sales out-paced that of other retailers that typically sell an average of seven to eight gift cards per day. Commerce Bank exceeded expectations with the Commerce Bank Visa Gift Card, achieving:
- 220,177 cards sold between November 23 and December 31, 2004, which exceeded original total projected sales of 80,000 to 100,000 cards
- Average of 30 gift cards sold daily per store (in December), which is more than four times the average among retailers; one Commerce store sold 112 cards in one day
"The overwhelming response to the Commerce Bank Visa Gift Card reaffirms our commitment to exceeding our customers' expectations by continuing to develop convenient new products and services that aren't typically found at other banks," said Commerce Bank Founder and Chairman Vernon W. Hill. "I am also pleased to announce that we have changed the terms of the gift card to extend its best feature - that it's free. We have eliminated all conversion, expiration, reissue and other fees from the Commerce Bank Visa Gift Card, thereby liberating gift card users from unnecessary and inconvenient fees."
Neither the buyer nor the recipient of a Commerce Visa Gift Card will incur any fees that are typically associated with retail gift cards. Most retailers charge fees for maintenance of the card after its expiration date, issuing cash for the value of the card and replacing lost or stolen cards.
The Commerce Visa Gift Card is packaged in a signature Commerce red box and tied with a white satin ribbon; the upscale packaging delivers what shoppers might expect from the world's finest retailers. Commerce customers can purchase the instant-issue Commerce Visa Gift Card for free, in any whole dollar amount between $25 to $500, in any of Commerce Bank's 319 retail locations. Unlike gift cards available from specific merchants, the Commerce Bank Visa Gift Card is accepted at millions of locations worldwide and enables recipients to buy what they want, when they want, wherever Visa debit cards are accepted.
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