Regardless of what type your store belongs or how huge or small it is, you will most likely gain than not if you decide to sell gift cards in your shop and here are the points why:

Point 1: Gift cards are easy to stock or produce. All it needs to be set up is a computer station with a printer. The materials needed are easy to find too and there are already several websites that you can design your card on for free. In other words, there is no reason not to.

Point 2: Studies show that about ¾ of the entire consumer population with gift cards tend to spend beyond the card’s face value. Moreover, the data indicate that shoppers with gift cards are oftentimes more inclined to visit the store sooner when compared to the days before they bought or received the cards as a gift. Because of this common consumer behavior, one retail expert sees gift cards as God’s gift to retail and the potential increase in revenue should not be neglected. The opportunity is there; businessmen just have to grab it.

With that said, it is crystal clear how gift cards can bring in a lot of money in business. Offering them means you are not missing out on potential sales and lead conversion. It means you are on the right track.

Now, the purpose of this article is to help you advertise your gift cards and eventually augment your sales.

How Your Store Should Sell Gift Cards 

Tip #1: Enhance your in-store visibility.

Your first aim should be to announce to your market that your store is selling gift cards. How can you do that?

Start with the basics by displaying the gift cards in strategic locations, e.g. near your checkout counter, gift section, on a rack near the entrance, or beside your best selling items – a place where there is the highest traffic. The good news is; you can achieve this easily without spending excessively. Ready-to-use gift card racks or shelves are easily available in the market. You can easily acquire one or you can reuse old racks for as long as they are presentable. Remember, you are trying to impress and invite your customers to check the cards out.

Tip #2: Cross-sale them with selected items.

One good strategy to sell gift cards is by selling cards that look and sound relevant to the items they are positioned with. For instance, in the toy area, you can display baby-themed gift cards. This way, the shoppers will have gift cards as an additional item in their list of options. This clever strategy can even be seen in famous stores like Target.

Tip #3: Market the gift cards proactively.

The majority of retailers follow a passive approach when it comes to gift card disposal. As per one retail expert, while this has been working great, if businessmen want a boost in sales, then they have to go the extra mile instead of waiting for the customer to ask for it.

An add-on strategy is somehow necessary. One of the proactive approaches that can be followed here is simply mentioning gift cards at counters or suggesting them to new customers without overdoing it.

Tip #4: Sell them via different channels.

In your attempt to advertise your gift cards to your target market, it is best to cover all your available marketing channels as much as possible. For the majority of retailers, these channels may include email, social media, and e-commerce or selling via your website; all these aside from selling them at your store.

1st Channel: Email, where an email about gift card promotions and newsletters can be sent out to all the emails in your customer database.

2nd Channel: Social, where marketing initiatives can be launched with a better connection to customers. Here, you can talk about the cards or indirectly promote them on your business’s official Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. This entails content production. Make sure your contents are great and images presented are relevant to your gift card’s theme.

3rd Channel: E-commerce, if your business website is already set up, it will help if you create gift card-centric banners so that your website visitors will be informed that your store is also selling them.

Read More: Easily Exchange Gift Cards For Bitcoins

Tip #5: Sell gift cards with a twist.

Instead of creating plain and generic gift cards, try to produce them with a twist, i.e. with designs following certain themes or events. This would be the best time to invest in occasion-specific gift cards, for events like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and Christmas holidays. You might also want to pay more attention to other events more, in light of the historical sales. 

Tip #6: Try to consider advertising your gift cards to people outside your target market.

When trying to market and advertise gift cards, while targeting your real customers is great, targeting other markets can also help maximize your revenue. For instance, if you are a spa owner, instead of focusing only on women, you can also market gift cards to men, especially before valentine’s day.

This is an awesome tip to implement when you are running ads, e.g. Fb ads. All you have to do is update your audience demographics and think strategically about who else may see your product interesting.

Tip #7: Advertise gift cards at other retail stores.

This tip is particularly helpful if your business is focusing on specific services or products that a normal retail store does not have. For instance, if you are offering food or spa services, partnering with a makeup store and having your gift cards displayed there is a great strategy to target women who are also food or spa lovers.

Depending on your target market, you can get in touch with grocery and other retail stores and see if they are willing to sell your gift cards, of course with a commission.

To sum it up…

One of the most common mistakes retailers commit when selling gift cards is marketing them wrong or not marketing them enough. You have to keep in mind that, although gift cards are exciting to have, people will not automatically buy them especially if the concept is new to them. Being proactive in the game is the key.

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