Leading provider of gift card and loyalty programs continues to see record-setting growth.
Cleveland, OH, April 14, 2011—SparkBase, the nation’s leading provider of white-label gift card, loyalty and customer retention program processing, announced today that they have achieved yet another quarter of record sales. The company saw sales of its white-labeled gift card and loyalty program platform lead its revenue growth in the first quarter, as ISO’s and acquirers strove to better manage and improve their bottom lines.
First quarter 2011 sales were up 80.2% over the fourth quarter, 2010. Compared to the first quarter of last year, the company’s revenue was up 154.8%, making SparkBase one of the fastest growing loyalty and gift card processors in the nation. “ISO’s and acquirers in the financial services arena are embracing alternative merchant services as a strategy to counter margin compression in credit card processing services,” said Doug Hardman, CEO of SparkBase. “This focus drove revenue higher for us in the first quarter of 2011, and we do not see this trend diminishing the remainder of this year.”
Hardman also announced other key metrics and accomplishments that occurred during the quarter. Five new positions in customer service and development were created and filled, including Doug Pierce as CTO. This increased the company’s ability to support clients and deliver innovative technology. SparkBase also expanded the corporate offices in response to current growth needs, more than doubling available space.
Additionally, SparkBase saw loyalty and rewards transactions exceed gift card transactions for the first time during the quarter. “What is particularly gratifying about the surge in loyalty and reward transactions is that it indicates that merchants are only becoming more embedded in the platform’s functionality,” added Hardman. “Typically we see both ISOs and the merchants they board start off with basic gift card offerings. This transition to loyalty and the use of our triggered email and text message capabilities indicates high satisfaction with our system.” Overall, SparkBase saw a 10% rise in transactions for the quarter in comparison to fourth quarter of 2010.
Hardman concluded with the following: “We have made significant progress in the first quarter of this year. I am even more excited by our prospects in the second quarter. We have additional functionality under development that we see as being very disruptive to the market. These new products will be in market before the end of Q2, and I expect them to only enhance the company’s value proposition and sales prospects.”
About SparkBase – SparkBase entered the stored-value industry in early 2004 as the first truly independent gift and loyalty processing network. SparkBase continues to lead in innovation with its proprietary gateway, using patent pending technologies for processing stored value transactions with traditional cards, and new mobile payments methods like SMS messaging. Developed in house at their headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, SparkBase now serves as a leader in gift and reward processing. For more information, visit sparkbase.com