Cardcash

digital.We still do have a physical portion.Whenwe started the business,it was 100 percent physical and over the past couple of years it started shiftingmore towards digital.Digital has an advantage for a cus- tomer wanting to savemoneybecause he or she can instantlybuy something.” BVM: Howdoes that work? Bohm: “If you get the CardCashmobile app,you can be standing in the checkout line in Starbucks,and immediately save 10 percent on your coffee.You put in that you need,say,$7.82 in Starbucks gift cards.Card- Cash is going to find the closest match that we can get to $7.82-it might be one gift card,it might be two or three gift cards that we’ll be able to combine,and then automaticallypresent one or two or three barcodes on your mobile phone.You showthose barcodes to the baristawho scans it,and your coffee has been paid for. Now,even though you got $7.82 of value,you onlypaid about sixor seven dollars for that.So,you just saved money.So,digital has reallyhelped us pivot from just being a gift cardmarketplace to being a payment wal- let,similar to anApple Pay,but with the added benefit of savingmoney.” BVM: Does that happen often? Bohm: “Oh,yeah.We have many consumers who are buying gift cards,mobiley, and getting them delivered almost instantly to their phones.And the time they’re purchasing them is while they’re in the PREFERRED VENDOR n PayPal www.paypal.com CARDCASH actual store location.” BVM: Will there be anyother changes in the compa- ny’s businessmodel over the next several years? Bohm: “We’reworking closer and closer with retail- ers to give them the ability to accept other competitors’ gift cards,which is taking our trade option to the next level.Instead of coming to CardCash to actuallydo the trades,our goal is,one day,you’ll bewalking in CVS and you have aMacy’s gift card,and you should be able to go ahead and just checkout of CVS using your Macy’s gift card.Now,youwon’t be getting your full value for it,but,at least,it providesmore universal use for your card.We’re putting some technology in place to get there and there’s definitelya lot of interest from the retailers to start accepting their competitors’gift cards –CVSwould love to acceptWalgreen’s gift cards.” BVM: Is there anything else you’d like our readers to knowabout CardCash? Bohm: “All of your readers shop at retailers and if theyall want to savemoney,I would definitelyen- courage them to download the CardCashmobile app, which is available onAndroid and IOS,and go through the experience of buying a gift card and having it de- livered almost instantly to their phones.You download the app,and you put your credit card information in the app to pay for your purchase.Once you set it up prop- erly,it’s a frictionless experience,and at some retailers you’ll save three percent,and at some you’ll save 20 or 30 percent.It’s something that everyconsumer should try.It involves just a little bit of forethought. “It’s reallymoney thrown out,if youwalk into aWal- Mart or aTarget and just swipe your Visa,Mastercard, orAmerican Express card tomake your purchase and not use the CardCashmobile app to get aWal-Mart gift card for five percent off.You’re literally throwing away that five percent. “On the other side of the business,anyonewho has a gift card that theydon’t intend to usewithin the next 60 days–it’s foolish on their part to be optimistic that they’re eventuallygoing to use it and not lose it.So, theymight as well convert it either into cash or into a retailer that theywill use.If you have a gift card for a brand that you either are going to force yourself to buy something you don’t need,just because youwant to spend the gift card,or you’re going to hold it until you eventually lose it,get cash for it,today,or trade it in for something that youwill use,and you’ll end up ahead.”