InComm Payments has reviewed a year of developments across gift card distribution, corporate rewards and benefit payments. Its December 2023 retrospective brings together partnerships and product work announced during the year, including digital gifting on Venmo and gift card supply and fulfilment for Meal Train. Company retrospective
The partnerships and the consumer research behind the 2023 review
In the UK, InComm highlighted an exclusive agreement to distribute Pandora corporate gift cards through digital business-to-business channels. The company also pointed to its InComm InCentives Shop as part of its corporate gifting offering. These developments address different routes to the recipient, from consumer-facing digital services to business reward purchasing. Company retrospective
The review included the acquisition of InComm Benefits, which the company described as an employer health savings account and flexible spending account platform using artificial intelligence. This sits alongside its broader work on payments for health and wellbeing benefits. Company retrospective
InComm identified an Instacart partnership for grocery delivery using supplemental benefits, work with MDHearing on over-the-counter hearing aids, and a Southeastern Grocers relationship covering healthy food and wellness purchases. It also cited initiatives addressing food insecurity in West Virginia. Those examples show the range of spending categories discussed in the company's benefit payments review. Company retrospective
The Dual Network Benefit Card was another development highlighted in the retrospective. InComm described it as a way for recipients to use plan funds and noted that it received the Consumer Innovation award from FinTech Breakthrough. The company also reported recognition from HR Tech Outlook for employee recognition and a GCVA team award involving Sainsbury's. Company retrospective
Operationally, InComm launched its Brazil Technology business as an IT hub serving retail, financial services and mobile sectors. Its industry activity included the Gift Card Summit and research covering generational payment preferences, holiday shopping and gift cards, with both annual and quarterly research outputs. Company retrospective
The retrospective explicitly links its annual Holiday Report. That October 18 publication surveyed 3,348 US consumers in September 2023 about the approaching season. Its shopping-location results below make the research component concrete: retailers with both physical and online options were selected by 63%, while 34% selected an exclusively online retailer. The destinations are overlapping plans rather than exclusive shares of spending. 2023 Holiday Report
Where surveyed US shoppers planned to shop for the 2023 holidays
Reported shopping intentions in InComm’s September 2023 survey, not observed purchases or gift-card distribution volumes.
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Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Survey of 3,348 US consumers in September 2023, described as early September in the introduction. These destinations overlap and percentages must not be added or treated as market shares. The report does not publish recruitment, weighting, response rate, question wording or subgroup denominators. These are reported plans, not completed transactions, gift-card-only channel choices or results of the partnerships.
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| Category | Respondents planning to shop there |
|---|---|
| Retailer offering in-store and/or online shopping | 63% |
| Exclusively online retailer | 34% |
| Traditional indoor mall | 32% |
| Local small business | 30% |
| Outlet center | 25% |
| Walkable outdoor center with premium retailers | 20% |
| Second-hand or vintage store | 16% |
| Artist or pop-up market | 10% |
The same report says 67% of US holiday shoppers expected to give gift cards, while 96% of consumers planned some in-store shopping. Those findings describe separate questions; neither measures InComm’s sales or the adoption of Venmo, Meal Train or Pandora gift cards. The study’s anticipated 39% increase in physical gift cards is also a survey expectation, not verified year-end growth. Its publication does not disclose recruitment, weighting or response-rate details, and no causal impact can be assigned to the partnerships from these survey responses. 2023 Holiday Report
The retrospective reflects work across the whole of 2023. Its gift card partnerships concern distribution and fulfilment, while its health and employer-benefit developments involve separate products and spending programmes within the same payments business. Company retrospective
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Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed covers industry acquisitions, investment and market research for Gift Card News.