MERCHANT WAREHOUSE ACQUIRES OPTICARD

Expands Gift, Loyalty and Prepaid Offerings to Drive Stronger Merchant-Customer Relationships for SMB Merchants

Merchant Warehouse®, a leading provider of payment technologies, today announced the acquisition ofOpticard, a nationally recognized provider of gift and loyalty programs for organizations worldwide. Through this acquisition, Merchant Warehouse will offer deeper mobile and digital engagement opportunities for small and mid-sized businesses through an expanded suite of gift, loyalty and prepaid programs. This move further solidifies the company’s position as one of the leading providers of integrated payment solutions.

For nearly 20 years, Opticard has offered best-in-class solution processing for merchants, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, completing more than 20 million transactions annually. Its prepaid offerings, including both gift card and loyalty programs, are designed to meet the unique needs of every retailer, enabling them to build lasting relationships with their customers, while simultaneously encouraging them to return and spend more. Through this acquisition, Merchant Warehouse will continue to invest in the Opticard platform to advance the suite of service offerings to both new and existing resellers and retail customers.

“Loyalty is truly centered around the customer experience; every customer counts, but it’s the ones that keep coming back that are vital to any business. This is where we excel — providing the right type of loyalty program or prepaid cards for businesses to better attract, engage and retain customers,” said Troy Smith, general manager, Opticard. “Bringing our solutions to the Merchant Warehouse product suite significantly expands the opportunity for merchants to create and deliver the right type of gift, loyalty or prepaid program for their customers. Merchant Warehouse is an innovative company, and we’re thrilled to be part of a team that consistently looks for ways to enhance the business-customer relationship.”

Returning customers, on average,spend 67 percent more than first-time customers. And 61 percent of consumers who redeem gift cards spend more than the total amount on the gift card, often as much as 20 to 50 percent higher. This introduces significant business growth opportunities, and innovations in payment technology solutions have reduced many of the original barriers around gift, loyalty and prepaid programs. As a result, merchants can pursue an attainable and valid marketing opportunity.

“Prepaid offerings shouldn’t be complicated for the merchant or the consumer. It’s really about delivering experience and value, and when done right, driving customer retention and business growth. That’s why the next step in mobile innovation is transitioning the traditional gift, loyalty and prepaid options into digital formats,” said Henry Helgeson, CEO, Merchant Warehouse. “Bringing these capabilities to mobile devices ensures consumers never have to worry about leaving coupons, gift cards or even their loyalty cards at home; they’ll always be easily accessible and usable through their phones. This has significant potential for merchants to generate greater revenue and more effectively compete with big-box stores. We’re looking forward to continued expansion and innovation of our payment technology capabilities and services for businesses to build greater customer loyalty.”

Through the acquisition, Opticard employees will join the Merchant Warehouse team. Merchant Warehouse will continue to invest in Opticard’s solutions, offerings and infrastructure, enabling continuous improvement and growth. Opticard will continue to operate independently and will remain in its current location.

For more information on the gift, loyalty and prepaid program offerings from Merchant Warehouse, visitmerchantwarehouse.com.

About Merchant Warehouse

Merchant Warehouse is a leading provider of payment technologies and merchant services. The company’s solutions enable businesses to more effectively connect and engage with their customers regardless of how, where or when they choose to shop. Merchant Warehouse’s flagship technology solution, the Genius™ Customer Engagement Platform™, supports both traditional and new payment types, including mobile commerce, from a single countertop acceptance device.

Merchant Warehouse offers innovative payment solutions that help online and brick-and-mortar retailers, as well as point-of-sale (POS) developers, value-added resellers (VARs) and agents, strategically grow their business. Merchant Warehouse is one of the fastest growing payment technology companies in North America.