Gift card business is booming with tens of billions of dollars spent every year, particularly during the holiday season. Gift cards have the potential to add real value to any business and increase the revenue brought in.
If you currently offer gift cards but aren’t finding they’re selling too well, there are a number of different ways to increase your sales. Here are three top tips on how to increase gift card sales.
Create a gift card promotion
You may regularly have promotions and discounts on offer in your store, but how often do you create a campaign that’s aimed specifically at gift cards?
Rather than hoping customers will just take advantage of the generic offers in store, by creating promotions just for gift cards, you could send your sales through the roof.
Some of the different types of promotions you could run include:
- Buy X number of gift cards and get another one free
- Spend X on your gift card and receive 5% off
- Buy one gift card and get 50% off another card worth the same value or less
If you want to run a gift card campaign alongside a certain product, you could offer a small incentive to purchase. Ideas you could try include offering a free $5 gift card with the purchase of a featured product.
This may sound as if you’re giving away more cash but research shows that when the customer redeems their gift card, they exceed the value, bringing you even more profit. Investing in a gift card campaign could therefore really offer dividends in the future.
Find a partner
One different approach you could try is to partner up with another brand, organization or group to reach a new and bigger audience. This could include companies whose products complement yours or even bodies such as schools.
You could also offer the gift cards as part of a fundraising initiative. For every card you sell, a certain amount could be donated back to a nominated charitable organization. This could help you procure more sales as individuals may purchase the card deliberately to benefit the chosen charity.
Other schemes you could partner up with to drive further gift card sales include loyalty scheme gifts, employee rewards, and sales incentives. Opting to target the B2B market opens up the possibility of even more potential revenue as this is a frequent type of purchase that companies make.
Be seen!
Some stores make the mistake of being shy about their gift cards, just tucking them into a discreet stand that’s hidden near the cashier. Be brave and be bold; your gift cards deserve to be seen!
While having them on display near your cash register is a good place, make sure the display is eye-catching and can’t be missed. Don’t be afraid to consider other strategies too such as T-shirts advertising gift cards for the staff or signs in the window. Make sure your staff are primed to capitalize on any opportunities to upsell a gift card and regularly offer them at the point of sale.
Claim your share
Gift cards are a multi-billion dollar market and it’s not difficult to make sure you claim your fair share of the potential income. The above three tips are simple to implement but could help you achieve the maximum possible gift card sales for your store.
