Increase in sales
The gift certificates of today don’t come on flimsy paper or in a bulky envelope. They don’t get as easily cast aside or misplaced. They no longer get thrown in a drawer and easily forgotten about until years later (when the business has shut down because nobody ever bothered to check them out and become a loyal, repeat customer!) Today, we have the corporate gift card/retail gift card; it’s similar to business card, and the same size, so it fits easily in your wallet, but it looks and feels more like a credit card.
“Although gift cards have been around for over a decade, they continue to grow in popularity in Canada, and are a top gift choice this holiday season,” said Steve Dekker, managing director of Blackhawk Canada. “Our annual gift card survey found that Canadians feel good about giving and receiving gift cards.”
When the pressure is on to get the perfect gift for birthdays, holidays, weddings, showers, etc., countless people rely on retail gift cards. Gift cards are often purchased last minute, so, if you don’t sell gift cards, consumers who are in a rush may bypass your business in favour of a competitor that offers the ease, speed and convenience of gift cards.
Findings from Blackhawk Network’s 2015 Canada Gift Card Survey revealed that the majority of gift cards are purchased around the holiday season for family and close friends. Many people want to just give cash to the person they find impossible to shop for, but it has long, widely been considered impersonal and tacky. The gift card is the perfect alternative, because, by choosing the specific card, you are saying “I thought about who you are and what you might like”, but you are also ensuring the recipient can choose something he or she can actually use and enjoy.
If you simply sell gift cards, you will increase your sales, but you also have to keep in mind that a customer is far more likely to pay full price for a product or service when they are paying with a gift card, so you could also increase your revenue in between seasonal or event-based sales when the recipients choose to redeem them.