Everyone loves gift cards. Whether you’re the giver or recipient, gift cards offer you convenience: for givers, gift cards are no-brainer gifts to give and for recipients, they receive cash to spend in their favorite stores and buy what they want. For business owners, gift cards are gold mines, too: they are a top holiday option of purchase with 3 out of 4 shoppers plan to give at least a gift card during the holiday season. Gift cards can become a good revenue stream, especially when 85% of gift cards are redeemed in the first 60 days after they’re received, giving your business a nice boost in sales during the first few months of the new year.
If you’re using Magento 1, there are many Gift Cards extensions that you can choose for you website to start selling e-gift cards. If you use Magento Enterprise Edition, there are 3 kinds of gift card integrated already in it, including virtual gift cards sent by email, physical gift cards, and a combination of the two. Each gift card has a unique code, which can be redeemed by only one customer during checkout.
ConnectPOS is the leading Magento POS that can streamline the process of selling gift cards from Magento to POS. Your customers can order gift cards online and send to their relatives and friends, who redeem them at your brick-and-mortar locations later. Or they can buy the gift cards in store and the recipients can shop online with the gift cards.
Magento and ConnectPOS create an omnichannel process for gift cards so all you have to do is sell them! If you’re about to launch gift cards for the first time, or you’ve already sold them several times but want to sell way more this holiday season, here are some ideas to help you promote your gift cards and optimize this revenue source.
Sell gift cards in brick-and-mortar store
There are many opportunities to showcase and promote your gift cards at your brick-and-mortar stores. First, you need a beautiful gift card template that makes your brand stand out among tons of gift cards during this holiday season.
Next, promote and let as many people as possible know about your gift cards. You can set up signs next to the registers, in the dressing rooms, on the pickup counter or window displays to tell as many customers and bypassers as possible about your gift card sales (make sure to include the information that they can purchase these gift cards online, too). Or you can customize your receipts to include a callout to your gift cards on the receipts (in ConnectPOS, you can create a new receipt template or edit the current one in Settings > POS Settings).
Take a step further like partner with other local businesses to run a mutual gift card program and reach new audiences. Or you can offer a small gift like “Buy a $100 gift card and get a tote bag for yourself” or a direct discount on the gift card, such as selling a $100 gift card for $80.
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Sell gift cards online
If you run an e-commerce business on Magento, you can create and sell gift cards directly for Magento EE or with the assistance of Gift Cards extension for Magento CE. To promote it, you can consider adding a banner or simple pop-up message on your website to introduce your gift cards, and if possible, along with discounts and promo codes for your Gift cards.
Besides selling gift cards on your own website, you can sell them on social media — like Facebook or Instagram -— or on marketplace sites like Etsy. Be strategic about which sites would make sense for your products, brand, and customers. When selling on social media, tag your ad with keywords and hashtags that shoppers often use to find your products or services so that your gift cards get visibility in searches.
And make sure that you can spread the word about your gift cards to your current customers as well as potential customers via social media and email marketing. You can create fun campaigns or mini games to give away your gift cards, like inviting people to share their holiday photos or their holiday awkward moments, with a hashtag specific to your business.
Redeem gift cards
Last but not least, it’s of great importance to offer your customers a seamless experience of purchasing and redeeming gift cards. Ensure that the gift cards bought online can be redeemed at your brick-and-mortar stores and vice versa. Gift cards by Aheadworks and Gift Cards by Magento EE are integrated into ConnectPOS so you can start selling and redeeming gift cards for your customers easily.
Sharing about Gift Cards integration in ConnectPOS, Matt Timmins, IT Manager of The Sewing Studio, said “ConnectPOS has developed their software so that these features [Gift Cards and Reward Points] are available to be purchased, redeemed and earned directly at the till. Our customers now regularly buy a gift cards online for a friend… they can now visit us in store and redeem that gift card code…. and vice versa. Our customers love that their reward points can be earned and redeemed instore and online too.”
The holiday is coming and it’s time to prepare your gift card strategy. Contact us for a demo and consultation on how ConnectPOS can help your business!