Did you know that gift cards can help small businesses, such as retail stores? Gift cards are among the most common gifts for people of all ages, especially during birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, and other occasions outside the holiday season. The giver can feel secure about their gifts and allow the recipient to choose what they want to buy out of the gift cards.
photo credit: LaniElderts / Flickr
Many retail stores today take advantage of gift cards to level up the experience of both the giver and the recipient. Today, you’ll find out the reasons why it’s a great idea to sell gift cards.
Why do retailers need to sell gift cards?
Below are six reasons why, if you own a retail store, you should sell gift cards:
1. Develop consumer loyalty
Developing customer loyalty is one of the biggest advantages when it comes to selling gift cards. As a business owner, it’s your job to ensure that your consumers continue doing business with you. It’s important to retain long-term consumers because if they feel a strong connection with your shop, they’ll keep using your products and services.
You can offer gift cards in combination with loyalty programs to develop your relationship with them. So, if you’re selling gift cards and give discounts or bonuses for certain spending benchmarks, your consumers will be more likely to keep coming back to your store and reach the required amount of expenditure.
2. Entice new consumers
Selling gift cards can be a good way to acquire new consumers, and still maintain the existing ones. A lot of business owners today don’t know the advantages of selling gift cards. Gift cards are a very effective marketing strategy for retail stores and other businesses, like day spas and bookstores. To entice new consumers, they can be displayed near the cash register for easy access.
In addition to that, gift cards are also very helpful for businesses that accept credit cards for goods and services that most consumers need. For example, gift cards can be helpful in electronic stores that sell items that many consumers wouldn’t often buy. They urge people to visit your store to look around, and probably come back to make additional purchases.
3. Improve brand awareness
You can market your gift cards by selling them in various channels – from grocery stores to online stores and social media sites. This makes your gift cards accessible not only to consumers who visit the grocery stores, but also to those who use social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Doing this can help increase your possible market reach. If your gift cards show your brand logo, you can receive free exposure, which helps improve your brand awareness every time the recipient uses the gift cards.
Receiving gift cards give consumers the chance to try something that could possibly be appealing to them. And if they like it, they could serve as a brand ambassador. Ultimately, your brand can gain from people who share their love for your brand by giving gift cards.
4. Increase sales during the holiday season
Gift cards will certainly help boost up your store’s revenue if you sell gift cards. Whenever there’s a challenge with getting the perfect present, most consumers would go for gift cards to fill in the gaps. Gift cards are usually obtained last minute by a consumer who wants the fastest possible option – a few hours before a birthday event or a holiday.
If you hold out on providing gift cards, you might end up missing out on profits from consumers that try to beat the clock, and worse, they might turn to a rival store. Gift cards urge people to visit your store and look around for items. They’ll probably come back to make additional purchases.
photo credit: Arvind Grover / Flickr
5. Minimizing fraud risks
Another good reason to offer gift cards is to give a greater sense of security to your consumers. Gift cards are beneficial because they make the consumers feel safer, and protect the brand from potential fraud. Did you know that more than 3% of consumers fear falling victim to identity fraud? And this number keeps increasing every year.
There could be consumers waiting too long to try new stores, as a result of data breaches and credit card theft. To avoid this, make sure you’re working with a company that offers the latest technologies in manufacturing them if you want to offer gift cards to your consumers. Gift cards can be digital now, with a balance that’s automatically updated whenever consumers purchase goods and services. This reduces the risk of abuse and fraud.
6. Revenue growth
Gift cards provide opportunities to expand your sales. Discounts strip away the value of the items you sell, so when you sell gift cards, your consumers will keep coming back to your shop to use the cards’ full value. They could use over half of the gift cards through multiple visits and sales, which gives you the opportunity to upsell new items. Consumers who buy gift cards spend at least thirty times more than the price of the gift card. This makes them such powerful influencers.
Gift cards also help new consumers to know your brand. This grows your sales, which is the biggest advantage when you sell gift cards.
If you’re looking for an effective way to increase your sales, then you should consider selling gift cards. Gift cards provide so many advantages that range from increased revenue to consumer loyalty and trust. These main advantages allow you to efficiently handle your business. Consequentially, selling gift cards will boost your store’s revenue.
Gift cards are ideal for consumers who do not have an idea of what the perfect gift to give out to their friends or family. Make sure to display them near the cash register, so consumers can easily see them, at least before they leave the store. The recipient will surely appreciate receiving gift cards more than something they might not like.
