It’s Thanksgiving week — a time for gratitude, giving thanks, and…shopping for gifts and using gift cards. In this week's Coffee Chat, I unpack insights from PwC’s 2025 Holiday Outlook Report

Did you know the average person has $244 in unused gift cards? Across the U.S., that adds up to more than $21 BILLION in unredeemed value. Let's look at what I found in my own gift card search at home.

Eric Thiegs, a 25+ year veteran of the gift card and incentive industry, is named as one of three shortlisted nominees for the 2025 Honoured Industry Contributor Award for the GCVA Hall of Fame Awards

This week, I filmed from Frisson Espresso on 44th Street in the heart of New York City. Grab your coffee - our topic today: Trends in business travel, with a little fun as we throw in some "bleisure" and Broadway, too.

I am celebrating my 33rd anniversary in my longest-standing loyalty program (I signed up for it my freshman year of college) and reflecting on how gift cards and loyalty are a match as good as peanut butter and jelly.

For those of us in the US, we will spend an estimated $2.5+ billion on gift cards for Mother’s Day...but do moms really want a gift card? The short answer: YES—and I’m not just saying that as an incentive/gift card junkie. My Coffee Chat this week shares why, with some fun insights into what moms prefer, how shoppers choose gift cards for that special Mom in their life, and the growing role of local merchants in the Mother’s Day equation

Did you know there are 20+ gift card aggregators, such as NeoCurrency, powering B2B and B2B2C global programs with gift cards, prepaid cards, and digital rewards? Yet many brands and buyers still find them a mystery.

In this week's Coffee Chat, I'm excited to share three organizations using innovative technologies to make payments and/or gift cards faster, cheaper, and safer for merchants.

Small Value with High Loyalty Impact - let's talk about the power of ‘micro rewards. These small, frequent incentives can increase engagement in loyalty, rewards, promotions, and employee recognition programs by up to 25%.