Charter One Bank N.A. and Coinstar, Inc., a multi-national company offering a range of 4th Wall solutions for the retailers’ front of store, announced an agreement between Charter One and Coinstar E-Payment Services Inc., a Coinstar subsidiary, for Coinstar to distribute the universal Charter One MasterCard® Gift Card through Coinstar gift card malls in drug, grocery, mass merchant, and convenience stores across America. The program is being facilitated through RBS Lynk, an affiliate of and processing service provider for Charter One. Rollout will begin in second quarter 2007.
The Charter One MasterCard Gift Card offers consumers the unsurpassed convenience and flexibility of being able to use the card at millions of locations where debit MasterCard is accepted.
“Coinstar’s vision and innovation in providing retailer front-of-store solutions is well-known and respected in the industry,” said Melanie Chewning, RBS Lynk’s senior vice president for Strategic Initiatives and officer of Charter One. “We are proud to team with Coinstar to help meet the increasing consumer demand for gift cards with our premier prepaid product.”
Coinstar’s category management process includes inventory control, management of card sourcing, display design, and merchandising and technology integration for point-of-sale.
“With the addition of the Charter One Gift Card to our gift card mall, we have enhanced our product portfolio for retailers,” said Steve Verleye, senior vice president and general manager of E-Payment Services for Coinstar, Inc. “After talking to retailers and examining current gift card mall solutions, we believe we have a balanced program that addresses retailer challenges, and drives traffic, sales and revenue.”
