Was 2014 the “Break Up” Year?
Q&A with CashStar CEO and President, Ben Kaplan What is the one thing that happened in 2014 that you didn’t see coming but has had a most profound impact on payments and your business? While I was expecting strong growth in mobile commerce, I didn’t expect the incredible growth we saw in 2014. Consumers are […]
Gift Cards Are Preferred, But There’s Guilt Involved
A new survey from Portland, ME-based CashStar reveals that a majority of consumers would prefer to receive gift cards instead of physical gifts, but many feel guilty for admitting that they want to receive them. The findings of this CashStar survey expand on the National Retail Federation’s Holiday Consumer Spending Survey, which indicates that gift cards […]
Tech Entrepreneurs Flock to Maine’s Quality of Life, Innovative Culture
Maine’s depth, breadth, and quality of technical and software talent is impressive, says Ben Kaplan, CEO of CashStar, a startup formed in Portland in 2007, which provides digital gifting services for major retail and restaurant brands such as Starbucks, Gap, Best Buy and Home Depot. “There is an energy in the technology and startup communities […]
Firebirds Wood Fired Grill Builds Customer Loyalty
Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, the Charlotte, N.C.-based restaurant chain with 36 locations, has chosen digital gifting company CashStar to help deepen its customer engagement and experience. The CashStar platform will enhance customer loyalty by giving customers the best digital gifting experience that is integrated across desktop and mobile channels. Ben Kaplan, CEO of CashStar, a […]
Mobile Payments Rule the Early Holiday Shopping Season
To get a sense of how mobile devices have changed the holiday shopping experience, look no further than what Amazon and eBay offered their U.S. customers last week on Thanksgiving Day. Each retailer featured deals on their respective mobile apps that were unavailable to consumers online. Amazon did this for the first time this year […]
A Review of Prepaid: What Consumers Need to Know
As the demand for e-gifting grows, gift card providers and digital gifting technology companies are finding new ways to innovate in these programs. CashStar, a digital gifting company, provides the technology platform for top merchants to sell gift cards. The company is investing in different options that provides flexibility for the merchant to enable the […]
Restaurant Marketing Watch: Operators Try to Stand Out with Gift Card Offers
Apparently, consumers used to feel guilty about giving gift cards, but they don’t anymore, according to gift card provider CashStar. Now the recipients of gift cards feel guilty asking for a gift that has a clear cash value, CashStar said. According to its survey, 60 percent of consumers say they want a gift card this […]
Gift Card Guilt
Having the capacity to use a gift card through a mobile wallet, app or simply just a smartphone may be one way retailers can appeal to shoppers who can’t find that perfect gift this holiday season. There’s just one hurdle: Guilt. In fact, that mobile gift card may just be the perfect gift as a […]
Gift Cards Top Holiday Wish Lists, With Total Spending Estimated at $31.74 Billion
Consumers want gift cards this holiday season, but are reluctant to ask for them, finds a survey from CashStar Inc., a Portland, Maine-based company that specializes in e-coupons and digital gift cards. Meanwhile the National Retail Federation forecasts that consumers will spend $31.74 billion on gift cards this holiday season. In the survey of 1,100 […]