Why Should You Begin Selling Gift Cards In Your Store?

Gift cards are widely popular all year round. And if you’re of the mind that they’re only bound to get even more popular when this year’s holiday season rolls around – you’d be right! Naturally, a lot of gift cards fly off the shelves during the end-of-year holidays when people are doing more gift shopping that ever. But, it needs to be reiterated that gift cards sell all throughout the year for a variety of reasons.

Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and baby births are just a few of the all-year-round celebrations that people commemorate with the act of giving gifts. Gift cards have long been perfect go-to items for gift-givers because they allow the gift-receivers to buy whatever they like. Gone are the days when we had to worry about getting the right colour, the right size or the right style. Now, people only need worry about buying gift cards from the right store!

Are you selling gift cards in your store? If not, you’re missing out on a pretty big revenue stream. In fact, GiftCards.com, notes that over $100 billion is spent on gift cards every year. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who has either never purchased or never received a gift card before. The website points out that 93 percent of consumers in the United States either purchase or receive a gift card annually.

In what other ways will selling gift cards boost your business? By selling gift cards, you don’t just increase sales, but you earn more money per sale. And that’s because, statistically, gift card recipients end up spending more money than the face value of their cards. According to GiftCards.com, 72% of customers will spend more than the value of their cards. In fact, on average, they spend 20 percent more!

On VendHQ.com, Francesca Nicasio reveals that according to a 2014 survey by First Data, respondents who received either plastic or virtual gift cards reported spending an average of $23.41 above the original value of the gift cards. “Not only that, but shoppers are also more inclined to head to a store if they have a gift card,” she writes, “The same study found that ‘51% of respondents said that receiving a gift card prompted them to visit a store more often than they would have otherwise.’”

So, not only do gift cards mark the most resounding recommendations for your business, they also encourage higher spending. Selling gift cards gives shoppers opportunities to invite others to shop with you. And they end up adding more spending to the original purchases. It’s certainly a win-win situation for business owners. It’s a win-win situation for their employees as well. GiftCards.com notes that 83% of corporations use gift and prepaid cards for employee incentives.

“Clearly, gift cards are a big boon for business,” affirms Nicasio, “which is why if you aren’t offering them at your stores, you could be missing out on a lot of sales and customers.” At Canadian POS Corporation, we offer Canadian merchants opportunities to sell gift cards in their stores and cash in on a trend that only continues to grow in popularity with each passing year.

For more information about how you can begin selling gift cards in your store, call Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.