InComm Reports 200% Growth In Prepaid Card Industry

By Chris Sherman On February 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Today InComm announced unprecedented 200% year over year growth in the prepaid card sector, confirming figures earlier disclosed to Virtual Goods News by Senior Vice President of Consumer Products Brian Parlotto. InComm's announcement comes at the conclusion of the 2009 annual Partner Alliance networking event, where InComm tries to encourage more retailers to stock prepaid cards for online games. InComm reports that it handled $8 billion in transactions in 2007 through its prepaid game cards.

“Expanding space for Online Gaming Cash Cards in the Retail
Marketplace has already proven to be a rewarding opportunity for our
partners,” said Brian Parlotto, Senior Vice President of Consumer
Products. “In the last 6 months, one of our major convenience store
retailers and Nexon have seen a significant lift from expanded
distribution and promotion within the gaming category as a result of
their fountain drink promotions. Several partners have also commented
that they are looking forward to adding similar initiatives to their
calendars in 2009.”

Robert Ferrari, who today was appointed as VP of Publishing and
Business Development, Sanrio Digital noted in the announcement that he had attended the InComm Partner Alliance and described it as "the perfect environment for
preparing retail for Sanrio Digital's upcoming release of Hello Kitty
Online.”

InComm is a partner of GMG Entertainment. GMG Entertainment is more game-focused than InComm, which also supports an extensive general gift card business, but InComm also has direct partnerships with 60 different online games and virtual worlds that sell virtual goods and currency.

InComm's 200% growth figure is only one of many signs pointing to an extremely robust prepaid card industry. GMG Entertainment claimed an 800% increase in revenue in Q4 2008, while PayByCash's Ultimate Game Card has begun rapidly expanding into new territories like India. Convenience store chain 7-11 now carries 20 different game cards and most major retailers nationwide also maintain prepaid card selections near cash registers or in electronics departments.