The Amazon Gift Codes On Demand service enables companies to distribute Amazon Gift Codes instantly in any denomination
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 5, 2008--ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), today launched Amazon Gift Codes On Demand(TM) (AGC On Demand), a real-time electronic gift-card distribution option available from the Amazon Corporate Gift Card program. AGC On Demand is a simple Web service API that integrates Amazon's proprietary gift-card technology directly into customer loyalty, employee incentive and payment disbursement platforms. With AGC On Demand, companies are able to reduce physical gift-card fulfillment overhead while providing gift card recipients with a customized experience and instant gratification. To learn more about AGC On Demand, visit http://amazon.com/corporate-gc.
Previously, gift card values were fixed and management of inventory for active gift cards and gift codes purchased in bulk required secure facilities. With AGC On Demand, gift codes are created individually in virtually any denomination and can be immediately issued in almost any format -- based on the client's preference -- including e-mail, HTML, customized/co-branded cards and paper receipts.
"This is a great solution for developers and incentive companies who are looking for a more cost-effective way to manage a gift card program," said Marcell King, senior manager of corporate gift cards with ACI Gift Cards, Inc. "The AGC On Demand service offers a quick and secure way to deliver gift cards and stored value to program participants."
Businesses are taking advantage of the AGC On Demand service in a variety of traditional and nontraditional gift card and pre-paid market segments, including loyalty, incentives, gifting and disbursements -- as an alternative to cash or checks.
"Points.com utilizes AGC On Demand to issue Amazon Gift Codes in exchange for travel and credit card reward points," said Rob MacLean, CEO of Points.com. "We appreciate the value that denomination flexibility and instant code issuance via AGC On Demand brings to our customers. Amazon Gift Cards continue to be among the top redemption items on our site."
"Integrating the AGC On Demand technology into the GroupCard.com platform helped us provide a fantastic solution for our community," said John Anderson, CEO for GroupCard.com. "Because it allows for flexible increments, our users can contribute individually as little or as much as they want to a group gift card without worrying about meeting any fixed denomination requirements. Our gift card recipients value the Amazon brand and shopping experience, and their experience on Amazon.com in turn helps make our brand stronger. Despite our highly unique product, we were able to integrate the AGC On Demand service in a matter of days."
"Integrating Amazon's AGC On Demand API into the Coinstar kiosk makes it possible to print unique Amazon Gift Codes on the Coinstar receipt -- instantly," said Alex Camara, senior vice president and general manager of Worldwide Coin at Coinstar, Inc. "The Amazon Gift Code is a popular choice for customers as it's a strong and trusted brand, and Amazon offers a wide variety of products -- so there's something for everyone."
Amazon Gift Cards are redeemable for millions of products across more than 40 product categories, including digital music and movies, and are also a great alternative to cash and pre-paid debit cards. Amazon Gift Cards never expire, have no fees and the entire value is applied and stored in the recipient's Amazon.com account until redeemed for merchandise.
About ACI Gift Cards
Amazon Gift Cards are issued by ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a Washington company. ACI Gift Cards, Inc. operates the Amazon Corporate Gift Card program, which allows companies to purchase Amazon Gift Cards and Gift Codes in bulk for a variety of business uses including incentives, rewards, gifting, promotions and cash alternative disbursements. For more information on the Amazon Corporate Gift Card program, visit http://www.amazon.com/corporate-gc.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as books, movies, music & games, digital downloads, electronics & computers, home & garden, toys, kids & baby, grocery, apparel, shoes & jewelry, health & beauty, sports & outdoors, and tools, auto & industrial.
Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Examples of the services offered by Amazon Web Services are Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS), and Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and the Joyo Amazon websites at www.joyo.cn and www.amazon.cn.
As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, significant amount of indebtedness, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and subsequent filings.
CONTACT:
Amazon.com
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
SOURCE: Amazon.com, Inc.