Flourish in a Flash: Current Consumer Trends During COVID-19
Please note: transcripts are computer generated
Holly Glowaty 0:03
Hey everyone and welcome to a well a recording of flourish in a flash. We tried to go live zoom had some other ideas for us. So we won't be taking any questions live today. But we would still love to you know, get your thoughts and everything so of course Feel free to comment, email us send us questions because today's topic is about consumer trends in the wake of Coronavirus. And one of the things that we've noticed is I mean, they're just weekly updates on how consumers are behaving different benchmarks. And so we thought it'd be a really good time to sort of do a roundup of the things that we're seeing on you know, from giftcard and promotions to just general trends that we're seeing in the marketplace. So it's crazy once you really start digging down we found a lot so there's a lot to cover some from personal experience some from doing research.
So yeah, we'll just kick it off with a few things that we've noticed. Um, I'll start with just what we saw from Walmart and Target CEOs the other day. So last week, they came out with an article talking about what they saw right after the stimulus checks were beginning to hit. And what I found really interesting was that it was not necessarily like it's all intuitive, but it doesn't all go together, right? Like it wasn't the list I expected to see. So they said that they were seeing things in terms of electronics, no surprise, we're all watching Netflix and Hulu and everything in between, right? Um, games and gaming consoles. So really, a lot of online gaming is happening. And they kind of broke those two things out games, gaming consoles, some basics, right things that you're going to need from that you can get from your grocery store, whatever. But then the big thing was adults bite Not kid bikes, adult bikes. So we want that one but I thought it was really interesting that across the stores, those are the trends that they were seeing very specific categories. And not only the biggest categories right?
Erika Frey 2:15
Yeah, actually to go in with that Holly like I live not far from a Best Buy. And honestly like the line it's like Black Friday, like there's people around the corner waiting just to get into Best Buy and you know, obviously they've got offers going on and stuff but that goes, you know, in in line with your electronics comments. I've got a bit of a funny one a personal one because I have a almost one and a half year old, and I'm considering doing potty training because I'm home right?
My husband and I are home and everything is sold out everywhere. Everybody has the same idea of like, what to do with their time right since your home anyway. And that's what you have to do is focus on, you know, the challenge while you're at home. So I thought that was another funny one. And then a few other ones I saw was like exercise equipment. I guess you can't find weights anywhere or yoga mats. And I think the other one was yeast. So like everybody's baking all of a sudden. So that was a pretty funny one.
Holly Glowaty 3:18
Yeah, my brother is he he's a trainer and he's a kettlebell sports athlete. didn't know that was a thing did Yeah, it is. Anyways, he ended up doing a partnership with a kettlebell company because kettlebells were sold out everywhere. absolutely everywhere. So like, he put something up on his like Instagram in like, like that. I guess they sold out. He's like, Oh, what a nice thing, but you're totally right. Like you said that was like, forgot about that happening to him.
Desiree Wiercyski 3:52
Um, I haven't been able to find three pound weights. Since the start of this. I've been looking for three pound hand weights. I've given up Totally.
Kristen Thiry 4:02
I have some like can you know get some pineapple juice or something.
Erika Frey 4:06
That's what I used to do for my workouts
Yeah, I brought sandbags Home Depot
Desiree Wiercyski 4:16
I've been using ankle weights
Holly Glowaty 4:20
Hey, three pounds right as long as you can grip it.
Erika Frey 4:25
My brother came home and he's like why are there cans of soup on our bench? I was working out.
Kristen Thiry 4:31
Yeah. Well, you know, speaking of cans, grocery is obviously having a moment post cobit and one of the stats actually that I found from Digital commerce 360 they just they just produced a really fantastic like 50 Plus page report on some key trends that I will share a link to in the in the show notes for this but as far as like full assortment grocery retailers, they have seen year over year increases Have 210% as far as the total dollar volume growth, as far as the number of orders, they've seen 151% growth year over year. So that's huge. I mean, that includes merchants, like, you know, prime, fresh and, you know, Amazon Fresh and instacart and some of that kind of stuff. But it also includes like your Kroger's, and your Walmart's and some of that kind of stuff.
Online, buy online pick up in store has also had a moment that's been a growth of 111% in dollar volume growth and 83% in total orders. And then last but not least, just all e commerce in total has seen an increase of 36% in dollar volume growth and 33% number of orders increase year over year. So obviously, that's the only way we can shop right now is e commerce. So it's no surprise that we're seeing such an uptick in that but also I think just so many more people, you know, ordering their groceries online, you know, ordering for pickup in store, we're not actually going into the store. It's just having such a huge increase right now. So, you know, a lot of people I think are having that same idea of getting their cans for their exercise.
Holly Glowaty 6:14
Mm hmm. Oh, you guys, I have to find this. I was reading an article and I was just going back trying to find this earlier and there was a clothing store that was saying they're disproportionately selling out of tops versus bottoms right now. Oh, funny, right. Wonder why? Just thinking that's another funny anecdote. But I mean, it really is interesting to see people totally adjust their spending for the life that they're living now. Like I was doing I was reading around about like, what people are doing with their time.
Gaming has seen an 80% increase in overall spending 80% Microsoft's game pass their services. past 10 million subscribers like, in no time what has happened to them like Twitch, twitch grew so fast they had to create a gift card right like they're so online gaming is just exploding right now. I mean, we're seeing it from people buying consoles, like we said at the start of this to how people are spending their money to pass the time you can connect with people. I think we've all were talking about this I'm from a big family. And it's just it's too much for like a zoom call. It's so many people you're just spend the whole time being like, what did you Who is that? You know, so we've actually bought games to play with each other so that we can interact and have fun and what's crazy is it my siblings and I are talking more now than we did beforehand, you know, but so it is interesting. That's really where consumers are spending money even for the first time in gaming.
Erika Frey 7:54
You know, Kristin that like that, that point about grocery shopping also like I wonder how this trend is going to continue In the future, you know what I mean? Like, the e commerce purchasing, you know, doing online grocery shopping, that's new to a lot of people, they were kind of forced into it in certain situations. And I wonder how that's going to continue when, you know, the COVID is going to be over, you know, like, are they going to continue in that direction? Because of that convenience? Or are they going to go back to what they used to do and how that's going to affect stores? You know, I'm curious,
Kristen Thiry 8:27
that is a really good point. You know, I do think that some people might be like, lifelong converts, now, you know, like, you know, why why spend the time going to the store when I can just have it delivered? You know, so I do think there's something to that, you know, and this kind of ties into another art of close reading about, you know, packaging, having a moment right now and sustainable, healthy packaging. You know, that I think is really interesting.
And, you know, consumers are looking for things that are you know, recyclable right sizing and how many times have you seen, I don't know, maybe just me but I will unboxing videos sometimes and it's like, you know, people complaining about how big of a box something was shipped in when it's like this small in the boxes, this bag, you know, so it's like consumers want the packaging to be right size, they want it to be, you know, adequately protective but you know, still sustainable materials. But now I think the health and hygiene factors coming into play so, you know how, how are you wrapping it in materials that you know, are are more like microbial, you know, or antibacterial and that kind of thing. You know, so that people aren't feeling nervous about touching that packaging and handling that packaging. And it was something I was kind of thinking about regarding the gift card industry to like maybe there's something interesting there that we could like, you know, put some sort of like film on our gift cards on physical gift cards or something that is more like antibacterial or microbial or something like that.
You know, I know a lot of like touch pads have been doing that lately, of having that on there. I don't know you know, you're not handling the gift cards. Not that many different people are. So I don't know if that makes sense, but it's just kind of thinking about like, Okay, if these are trends that are seeing a pretty big uptick, and I think this article in particular was saying that, you know, it's expected to have an annual growth of the packaging industry in general is expected to have an annual growth of $6.1 billion in US protective packaging market through 20 2024. So, obviously, pretty huge numbers there. And, you know, how does that impact our industry and the packaging that we see on gift cards and even just the products that we ship, you know, when somebody has used a gift card to purchase something, you know, and, and, and how is that going to have like long term impacts on just e commerce and that kind of stuff in general?
Holly Glowaty 10:47
Well, that's kind of interesting because our friends at NGC released a report today kind of talking about their major, the major trends that they see in gift card usage. And what I thought was really interesting was um, so I'm just going to quote it here they said, As for digital versus physical gift card redemptions, digital card redemptions continue to show strong growth increasing from 30% in 2018 to 45% in 2019. So that's pre Coronavirus. Yeah. And then Eric Thiegs went on to, you know, be quoted to say that they're seeing heavier shift to digital gift cards, obviously, because of everything going on.
But so it'll be really interesting to see what happens in terms of gift cards, and how people view them especially as you know, we're looking at to people even want to touch something physical, like you were just saying. And I mean, we keep talking about this move to sort of contactless payment, and I'll tell you like, I went to the grocery store and I was like, Can I just try my phone like with the contact list to see if this works because like, I don't want to hit the buttons even with the antimicrobial, you know, protection on it. Um, but we To the payment is a really hard behavior to change. So what I was like looking at some stats was like, What is it like 21 days to like change a habit up to something like 60 days, somewhere in there, and then like 90 days makes kind of a lifestyle change. Right.
And so I think we're gonna be, and then we have been in lockdown long enough to where people really might Erica, to your earlier point, maybe change because it is kind of a lifestyle change. I think it would be really short sighted of retailers to not pay attention to the habits that are being formed right now and like how people are spending their time, you know, how they're communicating how they're paying, and what they're buying. I mean, you know, I've never been one for like, I like I kind of like going to the grocery store. I haven't done a lot of delivery, but I'll tell you what, I'm kind of loving it now. You know, I don't know that I would change it. Oh, it's interesting.
Desiree Wiercyski 12:59
I think there's even room for more education from retailers, especially around like contactless and everything. It's anecdotal, but I was talking with a group of people and I mentioned Well, yeah, I tried to do contactless whenever I can. And everyone in the group was like, that never occurs to me. I never think about it, you know, and then they started pulling out their cards, and we're like, oh, yeah, I do have the capability. So it's putting that messaging out there. You know, to remind people that there are other options than what you've been doing for the last 510 20 years.
Kristen Thiry 13:40
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I would, I would say it is it is interesting, just like how how the behavior change is gonna happen. And I you know, not that this ties into behavior change necessarily, but obviously fraudsters are on the lookout for the increase in e commerce spending and other things too. So You know, one of the interesting trends that I've seen lately, you know, reports on and other things, actually our friends at Forrester looks like they're doing a podcast in conjunction with Mercator kind of talking about this, you know, but they were reporting that, that there's about a 20% increase in year over year fraud and that you know, there's a 40% increase in card not present payment fraud right now. So that's huge.
I mean, frauds already a huge problem usually, but a 40% year over year card not present. That makes sense, right, because any e commerce purchase a card, not present purchase, you know, so a 40% increase, they're pretty bad, you know. So those those kinds of trends are obviously a little scary, as fraudsters are kind of just taking advantage of our new payment behaviors and the new trends that we're all kind of adopting, as it relates to our shopping habits, and the way that we're paying for goods and services. So that's something to keep in mind, you know, as a merchant who, you know, wants to protect their business, you know, what are what are you doing to kind of put some additional practices and procedures in place to protect yourself from that additional fraud exposure.
Holly Glowaty 15:20
Card not present is just so hard to fight againt too to so you know, I mean, it's just, it's like we always preach, it's got to be multi layered. But you know, but that does also speak to another point, right? Like where, if online is going to become really like, even more so the forefront of how we first meet customers or how they first meet our brands, what are we doing to make that a better experience for them and for us, right for retailers and for our consumers because there is a huge opportunity here right now.
People are patient with people They try to figure out how to make things better. I mean, you experience it with everything right now, right? Like things that were never meant to have high use all of a sudden habit. And so you kind of have this opportunity this moment right now where consumers are willing to sort of work with you as you figure out this because they are figuring out life. So I think this is the chance for retailers to say, Hey, we wanted to test this or we would really be more beneficial if our consumers did x, right. So I think this is really a time that while I know teams are lean, and I know it's harder to move on things coming now more than ever, but if you do have that bandwidth, I think that's kind of an interesting time to see what we can do to really test and learn but also figure out how to create a really good customer experience that works for both you and the customer. Like get rid of your stuff. Get mad You know?
Kristen Thiry 17:01
Yeah, yeah. Because I mean, it's like the the important customer experience still remains that they want things instant, they want things seamless. They want things personalized, you know, that's not changing, that's continuing to be the trend. So how do you deliver on that while still protecting your business? You know, and I think that's often the hard part with protecting your business from fraud is that you're injecting all of these, you know, all of these sort of toll gates that slow down the customer experience and make it less seamless and less user friendly, you know, to protect your business, which, obviously you need to do to a certain extent, but not at the cost of that that customer experience. You know, because that will impact the lifetime value of that customer and the repeat business potentially that you see from them, too. So it's a really important factor to find just the right balance, you know, for sure.
Erika Frey 17:57
Like Holly it to your point, it's also like a great idea. portunity because for example myself I need I needed to buy something for my son and I didn't know where store stand like the stores that I like to go to for him so like I looked at their website I looked for information that they were sharing like I looked at their Instagram I wanted to see what deals they were offering you know how they were approaching the whole situation because things are slowly opening up and like this is a great opportunity for them to share that information and the experience that they want to offer for you know, the consumer
Kristen Thiry 18:33
that's actually a really great point I would say that just personally one trend that I've adopted more than I ever have before is following merchants on social media and and going to their Facebook pages going to their Instagram pages to kind of see what's going on and you know, I did that a little bit before just out of industry curiosity, right you know, but, but even more so for like my local merchants like I just went to like a Vietnamese place the other day and picked up carry out for the first time and I Found them from social media, you know? And I'm like, Oh, great, you know, I can like go try a new restaurant support a local business. But I would have never gone to social media before to find that, you know. So I think that's something that's, you know, at least my my personal change in behavior, but I think it's maybe a little bit more universal given the situation we're all in.
Holly Glowaty 19:21
Well, and it seems like you're even seeing Google kind of help with those types of habits. Like you go to Google Maps, they're actually ruling out this, they're calling it the quote, support this business segment, and then link to gift cards and donations for different businesses. So it's really cool. So like, you can go to the map. And if you click on a local business, it'll encourage you to do like one or two things. I'm not sure if it is.
So let's see here. They said it's available in 18 countries right now. And then like, I think the restaurants have to like opt into like how they want this to work. But I think it's really cool that they're doing that This. I mean, I know we've said it before, but we're seeing Instagram, Facebook. I mean, everyone's pulling out. gift cards. Yeah. Because it is a great way to show brands you want. You want them to stay open. Like, I just gotta say, like this old I need kind of an institution place in Chicago in my own neighborhood. The California Clipper for anyone who knows it, shut down. They go today. And I mean, that was like across the street from our like, like my husband's like first condo, you don't even really know when, um, now we're like nervous about all our favorite places to go. So, you know, it's just, um, I think there is a real community behind it right now in a way that just wasn't there before. You know, like you think about everyone who you rely on in that way maybe think you relied on in that way before? Mm hmm.
Kristen Thiry 20:57
I would definitely agree with that. You know, Thinking about how can you make your dollars mean more right now? Right. You know, I think that's a big part of what a lot of people are sort of considering and how they're using their their buying power to really help support businesses that, that they rely on that they like that they care about, you know,
Holly Glowaty 21:20
well, and how interesting. You know, I'm thinking about this a little bit the other day, especially with the digital gift card. I mean, it's so easy to change the card, right? If you want the dollars to mean more, why not tell people It means more. So I know Dez wants to talk about Chipotle on this as well, but why not tell people like stores are open, like make that card art. Like, you know, I'm like you there's so many ways you could pose this with just that little bit of real estate and when they find that little bit of risk State. Okay, the committed dollars to you and they probably liked the message you put out there, you know, especially as we are going to see more self use because this is how people are showing support, like, take advantage of that gift card vehicle for that. I think it's the perfect one. Well, you know, help have it really support your corporate messaging. Yeah, it does. I don't know if you want to talk about Chipotle a little bit. I know you've been following all the campaigns they've been doing.
Desiree Wiercyski 22:31
Yeah. So I know we've talked about it on another episode where they did the nurses card or frontline workers card and we're donating 10% of the sales to frontline workers. But with graduation coming up, they released new card our and did another 10% give back. So 10% of whatever the card was, was given back to an educational nonprofit to support kind of the class of 2020 and Things like that. And I think it's just a really cool way like they are digital cards. I haven't been in a toy store I would guess that they're not doing physical cards like that. Um, but there's they are changing out the card art Holly, like you said, because it's digital edge is shifting. You know, here's how your dollars are benefiting you during this time are benefiting others during this time. It really shows the true flexibility that gift card can provide. And it's so easy, right? You know, like I'm getting, I'm getting my burrito anyways, I might as well help someone else out.
Holly Glowaty 23:38
Totally. He's kind of way the script channels always been so successful in b2b gift cards, like well might help an organization I care about why wouldn't I just buy some gift cards and you know, it's a double it's sort of a double investment, right? You're messing up your grants and your organization's So yeah, I think giftcard really Really could have a moment right now. I mean, we're already seeing, you know, we're seeing a shift in the landscape in terms of how people are engaging their employees from a b2b side.
So gift card is an easy way to say, Hey, we're thinking about you, we still see the work you're doing even though we can't just, you know, walk by each other or go to each other's desks, you know, um, I was talking to some people the other day who said that they did, you're going to die. So you know, I've talked about this a bunch on the institute virtual coffee, where they give their employees a copy, like gift cards, and then they designate like 30 minutes where it's sort of like a, like a speed networking sort of thing, but it's 30 minutes where you grab a coffee and talk to a co worker about something other than work. And so that's like a trend that's popping up they think is really cool and you know, helps people You know, feel like there's community still.
Kristen Thiry 25:03
That's great. I love that we Yeah, we've all talked about that. Oh, that's like a great, just like a great engagement tool that's like super low lift, you know, not expensive, but like, does kind of leave you with like, Oh, that was that was special kind of feeling, you know
Holly Glowaty 25:19
Totally. And I think some people need the impetus to get up and out right now, you know, as much as like, we all are dying to I think also wants you to think a little more, like, hard to get going again. So, I mean, why not give people the opportunity? The coffee shop is letting you order online and pick up, you know, or something like that. The good thing is like, try and do.
Kristen Thiry 25:45
Absolutely. That's really interesting.
Unknown Speaker 25:49
So, you know, I think we talked about a lot of trends that we're seeing and there's so many more and I think only more are going to come out as people really start to study this time. That's the Tad on everybody. So I could say, you know, I would love to kind of go round robin and talk about the things that we think should not be ignored. And like what we think is going to be here to stay on wants to kick that off, but
Kristen Thiry 26:16
Oh, man, that's a that's a question. I mean, for me personally, I do think that the shift to e commerce more than ever before is here to stay. You know, I think like digital payments in general, you know, whether it's contactless in a physical store, you know, being able to send and receive digital gift cards. That's not going anywhere. Actually, I think one interesting thing that I was reading in that same digital commerce study was about consumers making decisions on e commerce based purchases. And they were saying, you know, while prices key purchasing from the website is you No, really understanding what the products gonna like look like. So photos, including more photos, and I think that could apply for physical gift cards that you're buying online.
I think oftentimes brands just show the card art, even though it's shipped in a carrier of some kind, like, show what the carrier looks like, like, why do we not often see that, you know? So that was something interesting again, when it comes like hacking and showing kind of those those types of things. Because, yeah, I mean, if it's, if it comes in like a cute little carrier with an envelope and a personalized message, like, show what that looks like. So just those kinds of things like how do you really maximize your e commerce platform to engage your customers and allow them the flexibility to shop with you get the products that they're looking for know what they're getting, you know, and pay it in various different ways. So that's a lot but
Holly Glowaty 27:58
I kind of want to build off of that because It's really interesting as you talk about people shopping online, probably need an online account, right? Hmm, did you that? I wonder and this is totally just you said that this sparked an idea. I wonder if something will happen where there's like online accounts that carry the in store to sort of like help facilitate contact list. And it's so old school like, department store right to like, Oh, do I need to pull up the old Ledger's and be like, well, I guess Mrs. theory, I will write down what you said that and then like it's your account, right. But I wonder if that'll kind of happen again.
Desiree Wiercyski 28:38
Have you guys done the target like drive up? No, oh my god. So this goes into like what I was going to say for my prediction, but it changed my life. It is so fluid and beautiful. So target does a really good job of keeping tabs on what's in stock. So I can order things. It's ready to go within two hours or later, you know, and then there are at my target, there's like 20 designated spots where you pull in. And you can tell target beforehand, like I'm on my way, but you don't have to. But you can say, Oh, I'm on my way, and then you pull up into the spot, you click, I'm here, you don't even have to mention like, what spot number you're at or anything. And the next thing, some wonderful person is bringing my items out, and then I drive away.
Holly Glowaty 29:35
Awesome.
Desiree Wiercyski 29:36
Like, I stopped using instacart because of targets, like drive up options. And the team can tell anyone that asks my love of instacart
Holly Glowaty 29:46
Oh, dang.
Kristen Thiry 29:48
That's a statement for sure. Yeah.
Desiree Wiercyski 29:52
But I mean, Holly, to your point, like everything rests on my heart, my circle account, right like all the orders are going through there. I drive up They have all the data they could ever want. And my experience is contactless very easy. And yeah, I'm hooked on it. And I think that, as I think that COVID has propelled brands to really refine those types of things. I know Kroger's, I know it's gotten better. So as we see that I think we may start seeing more of a shift from a strictly online purchase to that kind of omni channel, buy online, pick it up on your terms, because that's been my biggest beef with delivery. It's delivered at the most inopportune times
Kristen Thiry 30:40
That's a good point
Erika Frey 30:48
I think like for me, I'm not sure but I think curiosity is like my future with all of this like I did. I haven't tried that yet. I haven't done the target order and go pick up So I'm intrigued about these new ways of doing things. And like, when people start talking about them or sharing them online, I'd be like, Huh, I might try that, you know what I mean this like, I wouldn't otherwise, you know, potentially. But now, if that option is available, and actually that does suit me more than I thought it would, I'm going to give it a go, you know, and then like, once you give it a go, it kind of opens that door of like, maybe this is gonna be my move forward, you know? So I'm curious like this, again, you know, it's an opportunity for these retailers to come up with these options for online pickup, what have you to give to their consumers, and I'm all ears and like, I want to try this stuff, you know, and kind of see what suits me and kind of grow with the businesses.
Holly Glowaty 31:52
And I would say, I think, what what I find actually what I find most interesting is how much I think Use of online has changed for us all connecting with each other. think maybe it maybe it's just like a personal perspective, like, the way I connect with my family now is just so different than how we did before my, all my siblings, my parents live in different states. And, but they were all together in the same like my brothers and my parents are in one city and my sisters and another nine in another.
And so the fact that like, I just think it's really interesting that none of us would do like online gaming before like at all like we all had to learn together to do this. But then our nieces and nephews are like, they basically told us like, we were doing it wrong, you know, you didn't like this. And so it's just this weird thing where like, I think I always assumed like it was going to skip like millennials. not totally because like, let's face it, like I plenty of gamer friends who have like a whole community online, and that's awesome, but that wasn't how I connected with people. But so many people I know that's now how they interact. You know, um, I had a couple of girlfriends who couldn't have told you what twitch was before this. And now they're like, Oh, yeah, I'm using steam. I'm using data. And I'm like, you, you know,
And, you know, so anyways, it's just really interesting to see that shift. And I think, again, I think gaming, I mean, if you think it's on your phone, you're beaming. So I just think it's too interesting to see it really become more central versus passive. And I think it's something we can't ignore because, you know, especially as like, I mean, blockbuster movies, you know, things are supposed to be released at the theaters are released online and in different, you know, on different services and stuff. So as that becomes more of a, an attractive option for sort of having these experiences. I don't know, I think we'd be remiss. To think that they weren't here to stay. So that's kind of what I'm thinking is like, I don't know how much I mean, I would love to go to a movie theater and see a movie. Yeah, I want to see what happens, right? I mean, we run a conference. So we want plenty of people to get together. But uh, you know,
Kristen Thiry 34:21
yeah, but how do you ensure the safety You know, that's Yeah, it is interesting. And online, you know, with with movie releases and that kind of stuff. It's really interesting to you know, and, and what people are doing, like, what the actors in those movies are doing to support those movie launches. You know, having them do like press releases from their homes to like this, you know, like, Oh, it's so interesting that you like almost feels like you're really getting a more personal Glimpse Inside like their life, you know, because you are like you're joining them in their office or in their living room or whatever. And you're like, your kitchen looks like
Holly Glowaty 35:02
The local news like, this is way more fun now from here on out,
Kristen Thiry 35:08
totally, I love it.
Holly Glowaty 35:13
So I don't know, I think there's lots of interesting opportunity on I think, you know, again, you guys are saying it's getting a little more personal and I think people are okay with it being personal, it feels safer. And so I think all of us and giftcard No, personalized is great. The safety side of like, you know, fraud and things like that, that is something we're gonna have to focus on. Like you were saying earlier, Kristin, as we do become more omni channel, and, you know, then people kind of started giving us all life of their own. Because everyone's figuring it out together, right? Like, no one's leading the charge on this. No one's saying like, this is the way we should all go forward. Mm hmm. It's gonna be really fascinating to watch but very interesting to see the early trends. For sure,
Kristen Thiry 36:00
indeed, you know, and even to like the local I know, we talked about local businesses before. One thing we didn't mention Holly, you shared the story with the team about, you know, the city of Aspen as well as a town in New Jersey. You know, just offering offering their residents a $25 gift card or, you know, a relatively small denomination gift card, you know, to spend with local retail stores and restaurants to stimulate the economy. It'll be interesting to see how much more of a trend that you know increases with local municipalities and other other cities across the country.
Holly Glowaty
I want to say it was our friend Brian Dunn shared some stories out of the UK that were very similar. Looking at using gift cards to for as a stimulus. No, it'd be very interesting to see what happens globally on that front because it is the Yeah, community.
Kristen Thiry 36:57
Yeah, globally, but locally, you know, so See? Yeah.
Holly Glowaty 37:03
Yeah, gift card. Let's do this. Well, thanks for joining us on a flourish in a flash not live. Let us know if you've seen any other trends on and if you have any thoughts or questions around this, we know tons of you are innovating in big ways. So share that, share it with us share it with others. I think you know, the best thing we can do is tell everyone what we're doing to help each other out during this time. So, connect with us. Let us know what's going on. We're always excited to talk about and showcase what's happening in the industry.