Can the owners of gift cards get their money if a retailer goes into administration?

Three things have happened together in the last couple of days:

Retail Week ran an article about the problems faced by customers who have Principles giftcards

I read an article based on some research by Zebra Technologies saying that money sitting on gift cards totals £30m in the UK

I was contacted in error by someone who has £60 worth of Bay Trading gift cards and has been told that she cannot spend them in store.

Are consumers who are holding gift cards and vouchers really at risk of losing the value of them if the retailer goes into administration? Presumably they can put in a claim to the administrator like any other creditor? Is it right that the administrator can continue to trade to gain the most value from the stock in the business but refuse to accept gift cards? Is there a government body who will guarantee the money?

Whatever the case, it seems like a good idea if we get out and spend that £30m quick!

What does the Retail Operations team really need from a system?

Well, as the authors of the RAPID store communication system, we at Retail Answers like to think that we have a pretty good idea of the answers to that question. We work with customers such as Thomas Pink, Moss Bros and Borders to make sure that we keep RAPID up to date and address the issues our clients face.

Retailers with physical shops are facing major challenges with tough trading conditions, rising business rates and stiff competition from online retail. The Retail Operations team is in the front line of this, yet frequently is the least equipped department in terms of systems, often making do with email or even in some cases phones and faxes.

So just to make sure that RAPID is rising to these challenges, we are hosting a RAPID consultants day tomorrow and have invited the leading consultants in the area of retail operations to get their feedback on RAPID. We are very excited to share what we are doing with RAPID and gather new ideas and have a productive discussion around this big question.