No matter what type of store you have or how big your business is, you’ll likely benefit from carrying gift cards in your shops. As retail expert Kevin Graff said, “Gift cards are God’s gift to retail.”
Why? For one thing, customers who use gift cards tend to spend more. According to a 2014 survey by First Data, “Respondents who receive either a plastic or a virtual gift card said that they spent an average of $23.41 beyond the original value of the gift card.”
Not only that, but shoppers are also more inclined to head to a store if they have a gift card. 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.”
On top of that, people love giving and receiving gift cards. In 2014, the NRF found that “62 percent of shoppers said they would like to receive a gift card, making gift cards the most requested gift item eight years in a row.” They also ranked as the second most popular gift item during the season next to apparel, according to Deloitte.
Gift cards are clearly a big boon for business, which is why you could be missing out on a lot of sales and customers if you aren’t offering them in your stores.
Gift cards are a godsend for last-minute shoppers who don’t have time to cook up gift ideas, so stock up on them in the coming weeks. Help your customers out by displaying them at checkout and in other prominent parts of your store. And be sure to have your associates remind customers that you have gift cards in stock!
See: Day 5.
About Nikki Michaels
Nikki is Vend's content and copy wizard. American-born and Auckland-based, she's into reading (a lot), writing (obviously), and travelling (always).
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