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Sun Hung Kai Properties has transformed used mall gift cards into a sustainable, high-performing, and socially impactful retail solution.
Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) was commended as the Team of the Year – Retail at the Hong Kong Business Management Excellence Awards 2026 for the success of its SHKP Malls Gift Card team in forming strong collaborations with major banks to align bank goals with gift card promotions.
Recognising banks’ goals of expanding market share and card usage, SHKP has positioned itself as a valuable partner and established mutually beneficial campaigns to counter market saturation and economic headwinds.
Between 2024 and 2025, SHKP launched four high-impact campaigns with Bank of China, Hang Seng Bank, and WeWa & EarnMORE Credit Cards. The bank partners funded the campaigns’ promotional budget, whilst SHKP provided prime in-mall advertising space and dedicated sales manpower at the gift card sales counters.
Under these campaigns, designated credit card holders earned bonus points in SHKP malls’ integrated loyalty programme, The Point, when purchasing designated amounts of SHKP Malls Gift Cards. Customers can shop with the gift card at over 1,900 merchants across 24 SHKP malls within its one-year validity. This strategy has secured future spending and mall foot traffic whilst expanding audience reach through bank communication channels.
During campaign periods, SHKP Malls Gift Card sales reached record daily levels, with monthly sales increasing by 128% and accounting for 34% of total gift card sales in 2024. Across all campaigns, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
To address concerns about environmental footprint and sustainability, the SHKP Malls Gift Card team has also launched the Gift Card Recycling Programme as an ongoing initiative.
Under this programme, 24 SHKP malls have set up convenient collection points for used or expired gift cards. To encourage participation and promote recycling habits, shoppers who return their cards are rewarded with The Point bonus points.
The collected cards are shredded and repurposed into functional, eco-friendly green sandbags by sheltered workshops. These sandbags are used in daily mall operations to prevent flooding and protect doorways and fences, thereby extending product lifecycle and reducing landfill waste. The production of the sandbags has also created employment for the underprivileged, reinforcing the company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility.
To date, over 32,000 cards have been collected, with more than 10,000 cards repurposed into sandbags in March 2025, and another round is currently underway. This sustainability campaign achieved a 76% YOY increase in participation and a 101% YOY increase in collections last year.
“As the first developer in Hong Kong to introduce bank-partnered gift card promotions and a gift card recycling programme, SHKP has achieved a 157% YOY increase in annual gift card sales in 2024, whilst transforming the growing volume of used plastic cards into a sustainable, value-generating solution. Our work exemplifies the integration of circular economy principles into retail operations and stands as a benchmark for its transformative impact,” the company said.
The Hong Kong Business Management Excellence Awards honours the most outstanding leaders, innovators, and teams whose initiatives have driven significant business success in Hong Kong.
The HKB Management Excellence Awards is presented by Hong Kong Business Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2027 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company’s employee engagements and management initiatives, please contact Danica Avila at [email protected].
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