White-label eCommerce firm Thirstie is launching gift cards for liquor brands, the first offering of its kind in the U.S., according to a press release emailed to PYMNTS on Tuesday (Nov. 23).
Thirstie connects alcohol brands with consumers, and its gift card solution will feature major alcohol and celebrity-backed brands to meet consumer demand for both gift cards and gifting alcohol. Before Thirstie’s offering, branded alcohol gift cards weren’t available.
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“At Thirstie, we were working to solve for a very real pain point with our industry, which was how to most effectively drive consumers to adopt branded eCommerce storefronts,” said Thirstie CEO and co-founder, Devaraj Southworth. “While solutions like our data analytics continue to help brands reach their consumers, we tasked ourselves with thinking completely out-of-the-box and pushing the boundaries of innovation.
“By taking a concept like gifting and gift cards and applying it to the alcohol industry, we are enhancing a consumer behavior that already exists, rather than trying to force consumers to try something they are not completely familiar with.”
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Almost two times as many consumers would prefer to give a gift card for booze over a bottle if given a choice, according to a Thirstie survey that polled more than 2,000 U.S. adults. Furthermore, consumer demand for a leading vodka brand gift card was 84.4%, topping the demand for a retail gift card.
The alcohol market worldwide is anticipated to hit $736 billion, while the global gift card space is forecast to top $1.9 billion by 2027, according to Allied Market Research.
“Liquor gift cards will be game-changing, not just for Thirstie and its brand partners, but the industry at large,” said Donald Kingsborough, founder of Blackhawk Networks and a Thirstie advisor.
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“Our mission at Thirstie has and always will be to redefine the way consumers are interacting with their favorite brands,” Southworth said. “By putting brands in a position of control where they have the ability to directly connect with their fanbase, we have been able to solve a major pain point within the beverage alcohol industry.
“Liquor branded gift cards will undoubtedly transform not one, but two, multi-billion dollar industries.”
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