Meal card player Sodexo expands into corporate gifting space

Till a few years back, Sodexo was an ubiquitous name in meal cards and at restaurants. The Paris-headquartered employee benefits and rewards provider is now expanding its presence in the corporate gift card space.

Sodexo entered the gift card space in August last year with the Premium Pass Gift Cards.

According to Suvodeep Das, Marketing VP, Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services India, the company is targeting the corporate rewards and recognition space through gift cards. A company can provide customised gift card redeemable through the service provider’s network.

Accordingly, it launched employee gifting cards targeting upcoming festivals such as Durga Puja, Ayudha Puja and Diwali. The cards have specific artwork for these festivals and can be personalised for employees.

PSUs like LIC and private companies such as Wipro use Sodexo meal cards, while merchant tie-ups (where these cards can be redeemed) include outlets of McDonald’s, Spencer’s, or even online delivery service providers such as Swiggy or Zomato.

Das is hopeful that gift cards too will pick-up pace in the coming days.

“At this point we are targeting only corporates with our employee gifting card and other options. There is a huge opportunity there (in corporate to employee gift) which is our current addressable market,” he told BusinessLine.

The business-to-consumer gifting market in India is pegged at $70 billion to $80 billion, while the B2B gifting market (that include corporate gifting) is pegged at $2.5 billion.

“We come close to the corporate gifting market,” Das added.

Sodexo on its part has 11,000 clients in India and 30,00,000 consumers and a network of over 100,000 outlets.

The company earns from selling the cards and also charges a service fee from its merchant network.

It does not share India turnover details.