Discover Expands Its Gift Card Franchise Through a Big Mall Operator

Discover Financial Services LLC for the first time is selling its gift card to non-Discover customers and at retail locations through a new agreement with Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc., the nation's second-largest regional shopping mall developer and manager. Under the program, consumers will be able to buy Discover gift cards for $4.95 at customer-service desks in 42 General Growth malls, a spokesperson for Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover tells Digital Transactions News. Buyers can pay for the cards with cash or payment cards, including those of Discover's competitors. The cards are available in $25, $50, and $100 denominations, can be used wherever Discover is accepted, and do not have a reload feature. Launched in 2003, Discover's gift cards have been sold only to the network's own cardholders through the Internet. “We now can provide more relevant offerings to consumers, whether they're interested in purchasing a mall gift card or one that can be used anywhere Discover Network cards are accepted,” Dana Traci, Discover's vice president of prepaid and partner marketing, said in a release. Discover will tell its 50 million-plus cardholders about the new gift cards as part of a mall sponsorship-marketing program that conducts promotions throughout the year at selected General Growth malls. The spokesperson would not say how many cards Discover expects to issue or how much charge volume it is forecasting from the new pact. The two companies already had a deal in which Discover cardholders who spend $200 at certain General Growth malls can earn a $20 Discover gift card. According to a General Growth spokesperson, that program originated with Maryland-based mall operator The Rouse Co., which General Growth bought in November 2004. Most of the 42 shopping centers involved in the new program are former Rouse malls. “These centers had a great existing relationship with Discover, so it made perfect sense to continue the relationship with Discover,” the spokesperson says. It's not clear yet if the program will be expanded to the rest of General Growth's approximately 200 malls in 45 states. General Growth also has a gift card program with American Express Co. In late 2002, General Growth tested a Bank of America Corp.-issued Visa prepaid card.