GSI Announces New Gift Card Fully Integrated with Retail-1 POS Software

GSI's new gift card capability full integrates with its Retail-1 POS software targeted for small to medium specialty retail chains. Customers eliminate problems integrating with third parties and gain improved profitibility from lower costs of operations.

Montreal, Canada July 29, 2004 -- Gemmar Systems International (GSI) announced the availability of its new gift card solution targeted for small to medium specialty retail chains. GemX is a unique offering that is fully integrated with GSIs Retail-1 POS software for quick implementation and ease of use. GemX is positioned as a lower cost and more efficient solution for its retailers because it does not require additional third-party services and fees.

GSI working with a customer focus group developed GemX to address specific shortcomings inherent with third party providers. Feedback from the group identified a variety of implementation, operation, and financial issues. Stand-alone solutions require separate processes to sell and reload a card, they provide a single database as a reference point, they require processing through a third-party bank or card-processing terminal and they are cumbersome from an educational and support stand point of view. Addition to the confusion was the mixture of multiple players providing specific gift card services partnering with a variety of card processors and banks using a variety of third party software interfaces. Peter Mitelman, GSI President, noted, "third party partnering and integration was the biggest concern of our customerswho would take ownership? How do you avoid finger pointing? If there is a problem, who is going to fix it?"

GSI's new gift card solution addresses all of these concerns by providing a fully integrated solution and assumes all responsibility for its functionality. Additional benefits of the GSI approach include support for both magnetic strip and barcode identifications for the gift card, which will allow customers to implement without additional equipment cost. Additional functionality available in the GSI solution include the ability to sell multiple gift cards during a normal sales transaction, sell a card at a discount with a start date, de-activate, reload, and transfer a gift card within a sales transaction. At the store level, a POS hot key supports easy verification of card balance and transaction history. Customers may independently access a voice activated website (www.gemx.ca) to see current card balance as well as all transaction activity against that card.

Current customers of GSI will be able to rapidly implement GemX gift cards providing a shorter time to benefit and quicker return on investment.

Peter Mitelman, GSI President, articulated key elements of GSI vision and objectives of the new GemX product. "We wanted to eliminate the complexity and the high cost of third- party integration and to introduce the most feature rich and efficient Gift Card system on the market eliminating the need for my customers to go to third-party suppliers."

The result for the consumer is a simplified in-store gift card experience while the benefits to our retailers are higher sales, lower the overall processing costs, and improved profitability.

Independent studies support Mr. Mitelman's case that GSI's customers implementing GemX will gain both financial and operational benefits. These studies show that retailers implementing gift card functionality gain;

* Improved Profitability: Gift card users tend to pay full price more often and make larger purchases. Only 54 % of consumers spend the initial value of their gift card within one month.

* Only 61 % of consumers spend the initial value of their gift card in their first visit. 56 % of consumers spend more than the initial value of their card.

*Increased Security: Gift cards may also reduce employee and customer theft, since cards only have value when they are activated, and all transactions are electronically tracked.

Enhanced Brand Awareness: Mr. Mitelman noted that custom printed give cards are an opportunity to "keep your business on your customers' minds. It's like putting your billboard in your customers' billfold."

With hundreds of retail chain clients and software systems installed in thousands of Points of Sale (POS), Gemmar Systems International Inc. is the leading North American provider of retail business solutions for small to medium specialty retail chains. Headquartered in Montreal, GSIs comprehensive suite of products offer retailers a one-stop source for their enterprise solutions from brick and mortar through e-retailing. In addition to base products, Retail-1 Merchant and Retail-1 Store, GSI offers a complementary line of software to assist in store operations and management including: an Open to Buy Planning module (OTB), an Executive Information System (EIS), a Point of Information System (POI), Store Traffic Analysis (Traffic), Warehouse Management (Shipper), Imaging (Image), and Financials. Full professional services and after sales consulting in retail performance management complete GSI's closed loop solution.

For additional information, e-mail e-mail protected from spam bots or visit us at www.gsi.ca. Contact GSI Marketing at Tel: 514.631.3336 ext. 2240 or Fax: 514.631.7722.


Gemmar Systems International
2200 52nd Avenue,
Montreal, Quebec (Canada) H8T 2Y3

www.gsi.ca
www.gemmar.com

MARKET SPECIALISTS

Apparel * Shoes * Jewelry * Sporting Goods
Home Furnishings * Giftware

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