4 Stats That Prove The Power Of Gift Cards

Gift cards are often seen as items that are only sold by big-named businesses. But why can’t small and medium-sized business owners get in on the action? The truth is, they can! And they have! For many years, Canadian POS Corporation has been providing such business owners all throughout Canada with the ability to sell gift cards in their stores. Reports from our clients have proven that selling gift cards has greatly benefitted their businesses.

On MerchantWarehouse.com, Jenn Reichenbacher writes that “for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) gift cards may be viewed as just a ‘nice to have’, but retailers need to understand the business value gift cards can, and will, deliver to their bottom line.” She goes on to reveal that, in the United States, gift cards represent a booming business. And it only continues to grow each and every year.

“As an industry, gift cards eclipsed $118 billion in 2013, an eight percent increase over 2012,” writes Reichenbacher , “While e-gifting fueled a significant portion of the overall growth (increasing from just $300 million in 2012 to an astounding $3 billion in 2013), traditional retailer gift card volume grew as well, rising from $36 billion to $39 billion.” She goes on to note that, courtesy of Gift Card Granny, there are many statistics that prove the power of gift cards.

Here are four:

1. Many gift cards are not redeemed for their full value. Keep in mind that each time you sell a gift card, you are earning money immediately for items that you haven’t sold yet. And as Reichenbacher reveals, many times those items won’t even be sold. According to Gift Card Granny, “more than $41 billion dollars in gift cards went unused between 2005 and 2011; an average of $1 billion goes unredeemed annually.”

2. Gift cards encourage repeat visits from customers. It’s also important to remember that when customers make purchases using gift cards, they don’t always spend the entire amounts that are on the cards. That means that they will likely return to make more purchases in the future. Gift Card Granny points out that “55 percent of gift card recipients require more than one shopping trip to spend the balance of their card.”

3. Customers tend to spend more than the value of their gift cards. Making purchases with gift cards is not an exact science. People don’t tend to spend the exact value of the cards. By the time the value has been used up in full, a customer has most likely spent more than the value of the card. That means more money for you! “61 percent of gift card holders spend more than the amount of their gift card, with 75 percent of those individuals spending more than 60 percent over original card value,” Gift Card Granny reveals.

4. There is never a bad time to sell gift cards. Consider the fact that every single day is someone’s birthday. In other words, you don’t have to wait for the holiday season to reap the benefits of your gift card sales. “Birthdays are the most popular occasion to buy a gift card with 81 percent of consumers purchasing gift cards for a birthday,” reports Gift Card Granny, “67 percent of consumers purchase gift cards for other holidays.”

“Gift cards are more than a customer convenience,” insists Reichenbacher, “They are a key stimuli to driving incremental bottom line revenues and they’re a lot easier to implement that most business owners think.” Call Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 to order gift cards for your company. Statistics prove that once you start selling gift cards to your customers, your business will boom!