Blackhawk Network has announced that its Rewards Visa Gift Card will now be offered to businesses through Blackhawk Network’s Incentives and Rewards business-to-business program. The Visa Gift Cards can be customized with a variety of personalization options, such as company logo and branding, custom card and carrier messaging, variable expiration dates, and variable value loads. The card can be redeemed anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. READ MORE »

Seeking Alpha just posted the transcript from Safeway's quarterly earnings call held on July 23. On the call, Safeway CEO Steven A. Burd commented on Blackhawk Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Safeway:

To give you a brief update on Blackhawk, the value of total card sales—this is what we offer in terms of face value of the card—increased 24% for quarter two and that leaves us at 25% for the first half of this year.

The sales of closed loop partner cards are an interesting one to follow because essentially those cards represent the gift cards of a lot of retailers who are going through the same kind of economic events that we are. The sales of the closed loop partner cards increased 22.4% in the quarter and are growing at a rate that is much faster than our partners' own card sales.

Year-to-date we are on plan for Blackhawk, both in terms of face value card sales and earnings."

Blackhawk Network has announced an "exclusive relationship with Staples, Inc., the world's largest office products company. Staples’ U.S. stores will now carry Blackhawk’s signature Gift Card Mall™ currently found in grocery stores such as Safeway. Blackhawk’s Gift Card Mall™ features over 300 of the best branded gift cards across a number of different categories including fashion, tickets, electronics, home and sports." READ MORE »

Blackhawk Network has announced the winners of its Hawk Awards, honoring four companies’ and one industry leader’s excellence in the gift card industry. Winners were chosen in several areas; Card Design, Product Innovation, Industry Achievement and Industry Pioneer. READ MORE »

San Jose Mercury News columnist Mike Cassidy writes about his own (and others) recent experience with a gift card purchase where the card was not recognized as valid when his wife attempted to redeem it.

David Kesmodel reports for the Wall St. Journal on Safeway's Blackhawk Network subsidiary and its CEO Don Kingsborough. According to Kesmodel, "Safeway barely spoke about Blackhawk, founded in 2002, until last winter, when it divulged some financial projections to investors. The company nurtured the business quietly, in part to limit competition."

Blackhawk Network has announced it has "signed an exclusive agreement with The Kroger Co. to bring Blackhawk Network's award winning Gift Card Mall program to the nation's largest grocery chain in time for the holiday season."

Blackhawk Network has announced it is teaming with the National Football League (NFL) as the NFL's gift card partner.

Blackhawk Network has announced an exclusive agreement with MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, to launch the first-ever MLB.com gift card. According to the company, "the card is available for purchase in Blackhawk Network’s expansive nationwide network of leading grocery, drugstore, mass and convenience store locations, such as Safeway, A&P, Stop & Shop, Giant Eagle and GetGo, CVS/pharmacy and Kmart."

Blackhawk Network has announced the winners of its Hawk Awards intended to honor excellence in the gift card industry. These awards recognize quality and merit in card design, package design, promotions, marketing and an overall outstanding achievement in the gift card industry.

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Mari Ellis has been named senior vice president at Blackhawk Network. Most recently, Ms. Ellis served as chief operations officer for the prepaid services group at First Data Corporation.

Jonathan Birchall writes for the Financial Times about comments made yesterday by Safeway that it "expects to expand its Blackhawk gift card subsidiary this year to Germany, France and Australia, as it seeks to capitalise internationally on a retail concept that has thrived in the US."

As we mentioned last week, Blackhawk Network was honored by Prepaid Media its 2007 Prepaid Card Expo with the Most Innovative Product Award for its Gift Card Mall Destination Concept, "a convenient one-stop shop for consumers to purchase all the prepaid cards they need."

Prepaid Media has announced the winners of the 2007 Prepaid Card Awards - naming Blackhawk Network as the Most Innovative Product or Service. Other award winners include the Wal-Mart Prepaid Visa, Brinker International for its payroll card program, and the American Red Cross for its disaster relief card program.

Visa USA has announced that nearly twenty issuers, partners, processors and acquiring financial institutions have agreed to implement Visa ReadyLink, Visa’s prepaid load network service. Visa recently announced an agreement with Blackhawk Network’s alliance partner stores, making Safeway the first in Blackhawk Network’s alliance of 60,000 stores in North America to implement Visa ReadyLink.

Josh Fineman writes for Bloomberg about Safeway's Blackhawk Network subsidiary - reporting that "the unit is bringing unexpected gains to the third-largest U.S. grocery chain." Fineman notes that Blackhawk distributes the gift cards of more than 185 retailers, including Starbucks Corp., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes.

Blackhawk Network has announced results of a national online survey - concluding that more than 80 percent of gift recipients would prefer to do their own shopping with a gift card from a favorite store.

Chevron Products Co. has announced that it has signed a deal with Blackhawk Network to sell Chevron and Texaco gift cards to consumers through Blackhawk's retail network. Chevron gift cards in $25 and $50 values are now available for purchase at select Safeway and Vons stores throughout California.

Barron's reports on research from Morgan Stanley about Safeway (from its analyst meeting on Tuesday of this week) discussing Safeway's Blackhawk Network subsidary. According to the report, Safeway estimates that Blackhawk will sell $1.6 billion in gift card value in 2006 and estimates that sales could grow to $10-11 billion in gift card value by 2009.

Safeway is holding its 2006 Investor Conference this morning - saying it "will also discuss its efforts to create and develop new growth vehicles, and the progress it has made with its Blackhawk Network subsidiary."

Visa USA has announced an agreement with Blackhawk Network to introduce Visa ReadyLink, Visa’s Prepaid Load Network, to Blackhawk Network’s alliance partner stores. Safeway will be the first in Blackhawk Network’s alliance of 60,000 stores in North America to implement Visa ReadyLink. Fifth Third Bank will serve as the acquiring financial institution.

Blackhawk Network, a subsidiary of Safeway, has announced an alliance with McDonald’s and P2W to sell McDonald's Arch Cards in 1,500 U.S. Safeway stores including Dominick’s, Vons, Pavilions, Genuardi’s, Randalls, Tom Thumb and Carrs.

Blackhawk Network has announced it has signed an agreement to acquire EWI Holdings, Inc. (EWI), a provider of prepaid payment processing technology and services. According to Blackhawk, "the acquisition of EWI expands Blackhawk Network’s market and enhances its ability to service a wide spectrum of retailers with turnkey transaction technology and services."

H. Michael Jalili writes for the American Banker about Blackhawk Marketing Services Inc., a unit of Safeway that distributes prepaid cards.

Blackhawk Network has announced the launch of its gift card program in the United Kingdom. According to Blackhawk, "since its founding in 2001, Blackhawk Network has grown its North American card roster to feature more than 100 brands including retailers such as Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Best Buy, Gap Inc., iTunes Music Card, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Coffee, The Home Depot, and Sears." Blackhawk Network also distributes prepaid debit and gift cards from American Express, MasterCard, and Visa.

Safeway has announced that its Blackhawk Network subsidiary will expand its gift card business to the United Kingdom this year and has opened an office in Peterborough, England. Blackhawk Network was established as a separate business unit in 2001 to capitalize on store traffic at Safeway and other retailers, and is now the largest provider of third-party gift cards in the United States and Canada.

John Lofstock writes for Convenience Store Decisions about "gift card malls" - the term used in the industry referring to a designated display of retailer gift cards - enabled by providers including Safeway's Blackhawk Network, InComm and CoinStar EPayment Services. Lofstock reports that Blackhawk is in 38,000 stores nationwide, including Safeway, Wawa, Circle K, Petro-Canada and Chevron.