
As we pointed out in our last blog, the start of spring is just around the corner. While all that snow on the ground may make it hard to believe that winter is on its way out, it’s important to get your business ready for warmer days. More specifically, it’s time to find ways to heat up your sales. And, as we’ve championed in numerous blogs before, selling gift cards is an excellent way to significantly boost revenue.
Our last blog highlighted the fact that springtime plays host to numerous holidays and special occasions, including Easter and Mother’s Day. Naturally, these are occasions when gift-giving is the norm. And, as you’re well aware, gift cards continue to be popular gifts. So what will you be doing to boost your gift cards this spring?
Create gift card designs for the season’s special occasions.
Why not encourage some gift card sales by designing them with Easter eggs, hearts and flowers? Such designs are bound to be big hits for Easter and Mother’s Day respectively. As Lyle Daly points out on Intuit.com, updating your gift card designs for special occasions can help boost your gift card sales.
“Gift cards are already a popular item around holidays, but you can make them even more attractive by coming out with new designs related to the occasion,” he writes, “Consumers like to buy gift cards in the spirit of the holiday, and if they shop with you frequently, new card designs catch their attention. Updated card designs are also a good excuse to put up some card pics on social media”
Step up your online marketing efforts.
It will always make sense to place your gift cards by your cashiers in order to encourage impulse buys. As well, it’s wise to get your staff to ramp up their efforts in informing visitors of your store about the gift cards you have available. However, it’s also important that you make use of the worldwide web in order to spread the word about your gift card offerings.
“You’ve seen gift cards on display at store checkout lanes or in a dedicated gift card section — but these may not be the most effective ways to sell the cards,” says Daly, “You can’t count on people buying something unless you’re actively trying to sell it…Send out the occasional marketing email focused on your gift cards (and) promote your gift cards on social media.”
Digitize your gift cards.
Since we’re on the topic of utilizing the internet to sell gift cards, it may be in your best interests to take things one step further. As our last blog discussed, online shopping continues to grow in popularity. Offering digital gift cards will enable your online shoppers to have easier shopping experience while also driving up your overall sales.
“It’s no surprise that consumers are looking to make the majority of their gift purchases online,” says Euphemia Erikson of Multichannel Merchant, “We found that digital gift card use is on the rise with the average number of digital gift cards purchased jumping to 6.1 per customer, compared to only 4.0 in previous years. Driving consumers to your website or in-store via digital gift cards will encourage consumers to spend beyond the initial gift card amount.”
At Canadian POS, we offer electronic gift cards which have been proven to encourage repeat business, attract new customers and boost sales all year long. For more information, call us at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.