5 Reasons You Should Be Selling Gift Cards

In our last blog, we explained just how important it is to accept credit and debit cards in the wake of the new school year. Now what does the new school year have to do with accepting plastic at your business? Well, firstly students require a whole host of supplies and will be looking to your business to find them. However, studies show that the majority of students enjoy shopping online.

Do you sell products online? If not, it’s definitely time to start. Because it only allows you to benefit from the love that students have for online shopping. It should go without saying that allowing your customers to make purchases through your website requires that you accept their payments online as well. And that means accepting credit card payments. So you see how the new school year and your acceptance of plastic ties in together? Good.

Now, let’s take a look at another aspect of the new school year and how you can set your business up to take advantage of it. When students aren’t shopping for themselves, their parents are generally doing the shopping for them. But how do parents guarantee that they get exactly what their children want? Gift cards. If you’re not convinced that you should be selling gift cards at your business, consider the five points made by Donna Freedman on MSN.com.

1. Gift cards let recipients choose what they want. As mentioned, gift cards allow people to get exactly what they need and want. There’s no need for returns when the right size and colour sweater is purchased. A gift card not only ensures that you will have a new customer coming into your store, but that he or she will be satisfied with the purchase made. The bottom line is that you simply can’t go wrong with a gift card! But let’s continue.

2. The cards go further when redeemed during post-holiday clearance sales. Yes, we know that the school year just started. But before you know it, we’ll be celebrating Halloween. And that means that Christmas is just around the corner! When the shopping-crazed holiday season comes – and it’s coming sooner than you think – you’re definitely going to want to sell gift cards in order to have your best holiday season yet.

3. I don\’t need/want bath salts or a cheese board, whereas getting a card to a useful store boosts my budget. Freedman reiterates the point that no returns need to be made when a gift card is purchased. As well, they serve to allow recipients to save money. Quite often, when gift cards are used for everyday necessities, it allows a person to consider his or her budget to have expanded. Saving money, many believe, equates to making money.

4. If I\’m given a card I don\’t want/can\’t use, I can sell or trade it on the secondary market. Once again, gift cards don’t get returned. Even if they are unwanted – because, for example, the stores they represent aren’t enjoyed by the recipients – someone else is bound to want them. You always have the ability to welcome someone new through your doors when gift cards are sold. It just makes the shopping experience so much easier.

5. Sometimes I pass along cards that I receive — in effect, someone else doing my shopping for me. Easy shopping experiences are evidently a big part of what makes gift cards so popular – for both the purchaser and the receiver. But obviously, it also benefits you, as a business owner, to sell gift cards. Contact Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 today to order gift cards for your store!