SVM (company)

Last updated
SVM LP
Type Private
Industry Promotions and Incentives
Founded1997 (1997)
Headquarters Arlington Heights, IL
Key people
Marshall W. Reavis (Founder and CEO)
Products Gift cards
Number of employees
65
Website www.svmcards.com

SVM, originally known as Stored Value Marketing, is a provider of gasoline, restaurant, and other retail gift cards also known as stored value cards based in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Contents

SVM is considered a pioneer in the marketing of stored value products (gift cards). [1] [2]

Corporate history

SVM was founded in 1997 by Marshall Reavis, a former employee at Mobil Oil Corporation. While at Mobil Oil, Reavis was instrumental with the introduction of one of the earliest-known prepaid “gasoline gift cards,” then called the Mobil GO Card. When SVM first opened, the company only provided gasoline gift cards and had two employees.

In 1998, the company expanded its product offerings with the first non-gasoline gift card product. In the same year, the company expanded it service by adding production, inventory management and fulfillment services. In 1999, SVM hosted its first client internet landing page.

In 2001, SVM began issuing gift cards in an outsourced environment. In 2004 SVM deploys a web-based card reloading system on behalf of a major oil company that enables consumers to reload gasoline gift cards instantly online. In 2005, SVM establishes a relationship with American Express Incentive Services and becomes a reseller of the American Express-branded Fill It Up Card (prepaid gasoline card). By 2008, SVM hosted multiple client internet landing pages and SVM customizes a multi-use gift card.

In 2015, SVM moved to a 35,000 square-foot headquarters in Arlington Heights, IL. [3] The company also opened a consumer-focused gift card storefront on eBay. In March 2016, SVM acquired 1to1 Card, a leading prepaid card provider. [4]

On April 8, 2020, Blackhawk Network Holdings acquired SVM. [5] [6] [7]

Products and services

SVM's products include gift card for major gasoline brands, fast food and casual dining restaurants, retail, travel, and specialty retailers.

SVM's role in the issuance of gift cards is in two main ways:

In some cases, SVM is the third-party issuer. In this situation SVM contracts with the processor who holds a database of all card numbers, and SVM holds the funds until cards are redeemed. SVM then settles with the retail companies.

In other cases, SVM does the same functions as in the first example except that SVM does not hold the funds. Gift cards are resold through an agreement with the retail company. Cards in this scenario may be sold either in a retail store environment, or may be sold directly business to business. [8]

SVM's additional services include card program production, fulfillment of cards (to both retail outlets and customers who purchase the cards), and inventory management services. SVM also provides customer service and Internet hosting services.

SVM has a “sister company,” SFS (SVM Fulfillment Services), that provides fulfillment of gift cards to actual retail locations. This company was established in 2005.

Related Research Articles

Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone card</span> Card used to pay for telephone services

A telephone card, calling card or phonecard for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card, used to pay for telephone services. It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a stored-value system; knowledge of the access telephone number to dial and the PIN is sufficient. Standard cards which can be purchased and used without any sort of account facility give a fixed amount of credit and are discarded when used up; rechargeable cards can be topped up, or collect payment in arrears. The system for payment and the way in which the card is used to place a telephone call vary from card to card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stored-value card</span> Payment card with a monetary value stored on the card itself

A stored-value card (SVC) is a payment card with a monetary value stored on the card itself, not in an external account maintained by a financial institution. This means no network access is required by the payment collection terminals as funds can be withdrawn and deposited straight from the card. Like cash, payment cards can be used anonymously as the person holding the card can use the funds. They are an electronic development of token coins and are typically used in low-value payment systems or where network access is difficult or expensive to implement, such as parking machines, public transport systems, closed payment systems in locations such as ships or within companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gift card</span> Prepaid-stored-value money card

A gift card also known as gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK is a prepaid stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a particular store or related businesses. Gift cards are also given out by employers or organizations as rewards or gifts. They may also be distributed by retailers and marketers as part of a promotion strategy, to entice the recipient to come in or return to the store, and at times such cards are called cash cards. Gift cards are generally redeemable only for purchases at the relevant retail premises and cannot be cashed out, and in some situations may be subject to an expiry date or fees. American Express, MasterCard, and Visa offer generic gift cards which need not be redeemed at particular stores, and which are widely used for cashback marketing strategies. A feature of these cards is that they are generally anonymous and are disposed of when the stored value on a card is exhausted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prepaid mobile phone</span> "Pay-as-you-go" mobile phone service

A prepaid mobile device, also known as a pay-as-you-go (PAYG), pay-as-you-talk, pay and go, go-phone, prepay or burner phone, is a mobile device such as a phone for which credit is purchased in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for telecommunications services at the point the service is accessed or consumed. If there is no credit, then access is denied by the cellular network or Intelligent Network. Users can top up their credit at any time using a variety of payment mechanisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voucher</span> Redeemable transaction bond which can only be used for specific goods

A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term voucher is also a synonym for receipt and is often used to refer to receipts used as evidence of, for example, the declaration that a service has been performed or that an expenditure has been made. Voucher is a tourist guide for using services with a guarantee of payment by the agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verifone</span> Multinational Point-of-Sale equipment manufacturer

Verifone is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida. Verifone provides technology for electronic payment transactions and value-added services at the point-of-sale. Verifone sells merchant-operated, consumer-facing and self-service payment systems to the financial, retail, hospitality, petroleum, government and healthcare industries. The company's products consist of POS electronic payment devices that run its own operating systems, security and encryption software, and certified payment software, and that are designed for both consumer-facing and unattended environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuel card</span>

A fuel card or fleet card is used as a payment card most commonly for gasoline, diesel, and other fuels at gas stations. Fleet cards can also be used to pay for vehicle maintenance and expenses at the discretion of the fleet owner or manager. Most fuel cards are charge cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Dot Corporation</span> American issuer of prepaid debit cards

The Green Dot Corporation is an American financial technology and bank holding company headquartered in Austin, Texas. It is the world's largest prepaid debit card company by market capitalization. Green Dot is also a payments platform company and is the technology platform used by Apple Cash, Uber, and Intuit. The company was founded in 1999 by Steve Streit as a prepaid debit card for teenagers to shop online. In 2001, the company pivoted to serving the "unbanked" and "underbanked" communities. In 2010, Green Dot Corporation went public with a valuation of $2 billion. Since its inception, Green Dot has acquired a number of companies in the mobile, financial, and tax industries including Loopt, AccountNow, AchieveCard, UniRush Financial Services, and Santa Barbara Tax Products Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euronet Worldwide</span> Electronic payments company

Euronet Worldwide is an American provider of global electronic payment services with headquarters in Leawood, Kansas. It offers automated teller machines (ATM), point of sale (POS) services, credit/debit card services, currency exchange and other electronic financial services and payments software. Among others, it provides the prepaid subsidiaries Transact, PaySpot, e-pay, Movilcarga, TeleRecarga and ATX.

An incentive program is a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees and in sales to attract and retain customers. Scientific literature also refers to this concept as pay for performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Credit card</span> Card for financial transactions from a line of credit

A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt. The card issuer creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance. There are two credit card groups: consumer credit cards and business credit cards. Most cards are plastic, but some are metal cards, and a few gemstone-encrusted metal cards.

With prepaid mobile phone service, topping-up or reloading is needed to continue using the services of the operator. There are several ways to reload a prepaid mobile phone. The most popular process is through purchasing a prepaid card, but due to security precautions, and for convenience, electronic reloading was developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worldpay, Inc.</span> American payment processing company

Worldpay, Inc. was an American payment processing company and technology provider. In June 2019 it was acquired and merged into Fidelity National Information Services (FIS). Before its acquisition, it was headquartered in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio area. Worldpay, was the largest U.S. merchant acquirer ranked by general-purpose transaction volume.

Openbucks is an alternative payment gateway founded in 2010 and based in Silicon Valley. It was acquired by payment processor Paysafe Group in July 2020 for an undisclosed amount of money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peoples Group</span> Canadian financial services company

Peoples Trust Company, operating as Peoples Group, is a Canadian financial services company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Peoples Group operates as a trust company and also maintains a chartered bank subsidiary, Peoples Bank of Canada. It is a subsidiary of the Alberta-based holding company Triple Five Group and maintains offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto.

GiftCards.com is an online gift-card retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company sells gift cards for thousands of different large corporate retailers and small businesses including Vanillagifts.com, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Sephora, Coach, Amazon.com, and others. The company also offers prepaid Visa and MasterCard gift cards. GiftCards.com is considered the largest online gift card retailer and has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list multiple times. The company is currently owned by Blackhawk Network Holdings after its purchase of the retailer in 2016.

Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. is an American privately held company that operates in the prepaid, gift card and payments industries. It sells branded physical and digital gifts, phones, prepaid debit, and incentives cards online and through a network of global retailers. Blackhawk's network reaches people through a number of different channels including in-store, online, mobile, and incentive. Blackhawk headquarters are in Pleasanton, California and the company was incorporated in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SumUp</span> Financial technology company

SumUp is a global financial technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. SumUp supports more than 3.5 million merchants in over 30 markets worldwide, and operates a product suite of tailor-made business tools created specifically for the micro and nano segment.

Hawk Incentives, is a rewards-based incentives company that design, implement and manage programs for other companies. Hawk Incentives is based in Texas.

References

  1. Debit Cards: Their Value in an Incentive Program Info Now. Archived December 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. SVM Becomes Exclusive Shell Gift Card Distributor BNET Business News, November 2003 Archived 2007-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Shoveling Snow for Gift Cards; SVM's Exciting New Location". us3.campaign-archive2.com. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  4. "Gift Card Pioneer SVM, LP Acquires 1to1 Card" (PDF). March 8, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  5. "Blackhawk Network Acquires SVM Cards". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  6. "Blackhawk Network acquires SVM cards to expand B2B gift card offerings". business-newsupdate.com. 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  7. "Gift cards" . Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  8. The Gift of Gallons NPN, May, 2006. [ dead link ]