Gift Card Marketing Ideas
Gift cards are easy ways for people to do their holiday shopping without buying items that the receiver may want to return. For the merchant, gift cards are a profit center that should be marketed and expanded as much as possible. Creative gift card marketing should focus on getting customers to spend as much as possible on gift cards that they may never redeem.
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Significance
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There are two reasons for marketing gift cards to your customers. The first is that your customers will sometimes give your gift cards as gifts to people who have never been to your establishment before. One effective way of growing your customer base is to get potential new customers ways of sampling your product or service at no cost to them. You were already paid because of the sale of the gift card, so you are allowing new customers to try out your business with a paid visit from your existing customers. The other reason for marketing gift cards is that it is extra revenue to you. According to the market survey experts at RestaurantOwner.com, approximately 20 percent of the people that are given gift cards never redeem them. That 20 percent of non-redeemed cards is extra money that your business gets to keep.
Impulse Purchases
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Impulse purchases are usually convenience items placed near the cash registers that can sell for a high profit. Gift cards are very visible when they are near the cash registers, and a gift card makes a good last-minute purchase for people that are stuck for a gift idea. Make sure you open up extra impulse displays with gift cards during the major winter holidays, and encourage all of your employees to suggest gift cards to customers.
Novelty Cards
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Gift cards that offer a flashy design, or have an unusual shape, become a quick novelty gift for customers and this can increase your gift card sales. Try to get gift cards that offer images of the current holiday season, or gift cards that offer unique designs based on your kind of business. For example, a record store could get gift cards that are shaped like CDs with graphics on them that make it look like a real CD. Novelty cards can help to sell more gift cards.
Networking
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If you own a bookstore, you may want to team up with a record store and offer each other's gift cards. Find businesses that are complementary to your business and then work on a swap deal where you offer their gift cards to your customers and they offer your gift cards to their customers. You may need to give up a small percentage per gift card to entice other businesses to sell your gift cards, but it would be worth it in the end to have your gift cards sold through more outlets than just your locations.
Warning
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Gift cards need to be a profit center for your business, so avoid giving gift cards away. If you are looking for a giveaway, try giving coupons with promotional pricing on them. A successful gift card campaign is one in which many gift cards are purchased. Giving away gift cards as promotional items is like giving money away with no expected return.
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