by Kim Dailey | Feb 12, 2024 | Bank gift cards, Gift Cards
Celebrate all Month
Make this Month Valentine’s month! Offer diners specials all month long! This will gain more business and allow clients to celebrate without the crowds of previous years. Dress up your reception area with impulse sales items. Add a gift card to a basket of wine, food, or whatever you sell, and create a grab-and-go product for frantic last-minute Valentine’s Day shoppers. Restaurant gift cards were the most popular gift card category in 2022. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), restaurant gift cards were the most popular gift cards for Christmas 2022, with 27% of U.S. consumers planning to buy at least one. Source: moneyzine.com/personal-finance-resources/gift-card-statistics/
Spread the love to your customers this Valentine’s Day by offering out-of-the-box ideas. Offer a curbside candlelight Valentine’s dinner prepared or unprepared, and maybe include a small gift card they can use in the future as a surprise when they unbox their order.
Create a beautiful Valentine’s basket with a gift card and bottle of wine or glasses for those who choose to celebrate later. Maybe a pizza for two and a growler. There are so many fun ideas you can incorporate to make your restaurant even more memorable during these times.
Get creative; if you need last-minute digital cards or gift card presenters, we have you covered!
Every year, these numbers increase, and every day, someone is celebrating an event!
Source: NATIONAL USE YOUR GIFT CARD DAY – January 20, 2024 – National Today
- Gift cards that Americans give: 93% of have given gift cards
- The most popular gift card in 2019, Amazon, was the #1 gift card.
- Gift cards as birthday gifts: 68% of people give gift cards as a birthday present.
- Starbucks transactions: Almost half were made with gift cards
- Men vs. Women: Men spend more on gift cards than women. Perfect for Valentine’s Day
by Chandra | Jun 8, 2021 | Gift Cards, POS Systems
The number one impulse gift is a gift card. Are you offering gift cards to your customers?
This is an excellent way to promote your business and create additional revenue at the same time. Successful business owners know this and prepare well in advance of every holiday. But wait….don’t forget birthdays, actually, they are the number one Holiday so keep refreshing your displays
- Display Gift Cards everywhere. Dress up your store and make sure people see them. This is the easiest and most effective way to market your gift cards
- Advertise on your table Tents
- Send an email to your customers via Mailchimp or Constant Contact
- Have a drawing weekly to collect names and give away
- Add gift cards or e-gift cards to your website and all your social media sites
Here are ways to promote your Gift Cards for Father’s Day and all year long. Check out our Gift Card tips.
We have the supplies you need for your gift cards: Gift Card holders, presenters, table tents (we will design) gift card signage to help you promote your gift cards, and more.
by Chandra | Dec 17, 2020 | Bank gift cards, Gift Cards, POS Systems
How can you sell more this season?
Gift cards continue to be the #1 gift given and also the #1 gift most people want to receive.
E-gift cards and Mobile Gift cards are becoming more popular than ever and you can begin selling these cards today! Especially with so many people using their mobile devices for everything these days. Not only e-gift cards are easy to buy and send, but they are also instantly delivered or they can be ordered ahead of time.
3 Quick Tips to sell more gift cards this year
Add Value
Offer an additional bonus gift card with a large purchase or in addition to a $50-$100 gift card purchase. This is another great way to acquire new customers. A mere $10 or $20 free gift card is an inexpensive way to increase your customer base since most people give the free card away to friends or family. There is a reason the big box stores have huge banners up this time of year!
Creating Impulse Gifts
Give your customers a “grab and go” option at check-out with your cards in a basket or simple gift bag. A bottle of wine and pasta in a basket or maybe some chocolates with a plate on display will appeal to your customers. Get creative, and have fun with it! You have a captive audience and visualization always sells more gift cards. Customers love the time savings of not having to wrap it themselves or think of items to add. Your gift cards fly off the shelves and your sales will skyrocket! Not to mention the new business you will gain from the recipients of these gift cards.
Advertise e-Gift Cards Everywhere
Use banners outside or notices on your doors, and a fun display at your check out counter. Also, don’t forget social media…with a simple QR code directing them to your website to order e-gift cards, mobile or plastic gift cards online!
We are all pressed for time these days and just by making it easy for your customers to order with gift ideas or different methods of delivery, you will create the “WOW” factor and be remembered! Last year
Statista reported retail sales were projected to amount to
$6.03 trillion in 2022! by Chandra | Dec 9, 2020 | Gift Cards, Marketing, Restaurant Industry News
Boost your Restaurant Sales by Up-sell to Existing Customers
Your servers should be suggesting appetizers, desserts, and gift cards. Are they? A lot of servers simply ask ”Can I start you out with an appetizer?” This puts the server in a bad position if the customer says no as they can’t really ask again without running the risk of sounding pushy or becoming annoying. When it comes to suggestive selling you want to follow these 3 steps.
3 Simple Steps to Market your Appetizers
- Inform – Tell the customer that you have appetizers when handing out the menu by saying something like “Be sure to check out our appetizer section, they are amazing!”
- Testify – Before taking the order preferably before the customer makes up their mind, you want to testify by saying something like “you should try the Crab stuffed mushrooms with the lobster sauce they are my favorite!” Be descriptive when testifying but keep it short
- The Close – Now is the time to ask for the sale “so can I start you out with an appetizer?”
The idea here is to get the customer to think about the appetizer without forcing them to make a quick decision.
Now that you sold an appetizer to your table, it’s time to think about dessert. Before the meal is brought to the table you want to put the idea of dessert in their minds while they are still hungry. We are going to use the three steps again but with a little twist.
3 Simple Steps to Market your Desserts
- Inform – Go back to the table to let them know their food will be ready soon or to see how the Appetizer is say something like “I was in the kitchen and they just pulled the apple pie out of the oven it smells so good”
- Testify/Close – When you return to check the table say something like “we have some of the best pastry chefs here, our desserts are delicious. “Can I bring you a piece of pie?” Now if the customer says yes, great! If they say, no it’s ok, because we will take one last shot before they pay the bill.
- 2nd offer – When the customer asks for the check casually ask “So are you sure you don’t want that piece of that pie? I can put it in a small box so you can take it with you for later.”
Up-selling in a restaurant is like any other type of sales. If you train your servers properly to use suggestive selling they will market more appetizers, desserts, and gift cards. This leads to larger checks, higher tips for servers, and retention of those servers along with more revenue for your restaurant. You don’t have to follow this pitch word for word, make it your own and work it into the conversation naturally. Also, people are more inclined to buy from people they like so remind your servers to be polite, friendly, and smile, smile, smile!
More solutions for restaurants.
by Chandra | Jun 6, 2019 | Gift Cards, Retail Industry News
The average consumer is spending $59 more than the original value of their Gift Card, up $21 from 2017, according to the 2018 Prepaid Consumer Insights Study released by First Data (NYSE: FDC) Despite the set value on a gift card, 72% of customers report spending more than the given amount on their card.
Offering gift cards allows a company to attract new customers, increase brand awareness, improve sales, and reduce fraud. Total retail sales in the United States were projected to amount to 6.03 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, up from around 5.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2018. Often, businesses overlook the benefits of integrating gift cards into their companies.
Attracting New Customers
Gift cards are incredibly useful in attracting new customers. They continue to be the number one gift given, therefore introducing new customers to your business. Also, these Gift Cards serve as an incentive to purchase something your customer may not typically seek out.
Increasing Brand Awareness
Providing customers with Gift Cards increases your brand awareness, as well. As gift cards are purchased and given to others for holiday or birthdays, your brand will be introduced to a new audience. 93% of consumers will either buy or receive a gift card; also they are the #1 most requested present during holidays.
Marketing Your Company
Customizing your Gift Card serves as a self-marketing tool. Your logo is displayed in your customer’s wallet and viewed often. Not only will this prompt customers to revisit your store, but it will also hopefully turn them into loyal repeat customers.
Reducing Fraud
By offering Gift Cards to customers, as opposed to paper certificates, you will also be reducing your risk of fraud. Tracking certificates is difficult, and with Gift Card integrations to the new POS Systems, it is now a simple process to monitor. Using a POS System will deter internal theft and quite possibly reduce the likelihood of counterfeit certificates being produced by fraudsters. Gift cards electronically monitored with a POS system allows the merchant to verify the initial transaction. This is also a great way to deal with returns by getting your customer to come back to purchase another product.
With these exploding numbers in the Gift Card industry, what are you going to do to capture your share of this market? We can help uplift your sales today!
by Peter | Oct 13, 2016 | Bank gift cards, Featured, Gift Cards, Marketing, MasterCard, News
The TRUTH About Gift Cards
If you have ever thought about getting gift cards for your business, there has never been a better time now! The Holidays are just around the corner and will be here before you know it. The deadline for ordering those gift cards is NOW if you want to reap the rewards this season. Fortunately, you have another option. You can deploy gift cards “virtually” through your website, in a requested email link or on your social media site today. Here’s another great way to market to your last minute customers.
The reason I say there has never been a better time is that, of all the changes that have taken place in the gift card arena. Not only has the cost come down considerably on plastic cards but there is a whole new approach to accepting gift cards in your business. Online sales which will become break sales records again this season. There are so many wonderful things gift cards can do to build your business.
The advantages:
- Statistics show that people spend approximately 61% more when using a gift card (Consider your own spending patterns when using a gift card)
- Gift cards are the #1 gift given during the Holidays
- Gift cards build brand awareness
- Gift cards increase cash flow by collecting money upfront for future delivery.
- Gift cards reduce fraud experienced with paper gift certificates
- Gift cards can create a great marketing strategy to get someone in your store that normally wouldn’t shop there
- Gift cards can design a loyalty program for your business, getting your customers to come back time and time again for those perks you offer (Investing in your existing customers is much more cost effective than reaching out for new ones)
- Sell and send gift cards from your store, mail, text, your website, email or even your Facebook page. It’s never been easier
Now the disadvantages:
Don’t let this opportunity to increase your sales this Holiday Season pass you by. Invest in your business’s future today!
