With the holidays fast approaching, retail centers and restaurants are readying themselves for the rush with thematic decorations, holiday promotions, and the well-known change in playlists. As people begin and finish their Christmas shopping early, both retail stores and restaurants can elevate their gift card promotions to help maximize their profits for both before and after the holiday season.
Gift cards are great for customers during the holidays: they make great gifts and allow their loved ones to buy or experience something they might not have otherwise. While it might not seem like gift cards need to be advertised, there are reasons to elevate your business’s gift card promotions during the holidays.
Studies show that almost 60% of people plan on buying gift cards because of inventory shortages, while gift cards are the best alternatives to tangible gifts for almost 50% of consumers. This demonstrates how, particularly during the holiday rush, people are more often to spend extra on the gift cards that they will then give to loved ones. There have also been studies and statistics that show how more than 70% of people spend almost 40% more than what their cards have. Customers will often spend more on impulse buys or upgrade to more expensive options when they have gift cards to seemingly cut their own costs.
At retail stores, these gift card sales will often be for the stores both the giver and receiver often frequent. Gift cards to restaurants, however, can be a different story. Offering gift cards at your restaurant can attract would-be customers through your already loyal patrons. These gift card recipients have the potential to become repeat customers. Retail gift cards are for material gifts, while restaurant gift cards offer experiences.
Digital signage and proper advertising will help ramp up the gift card sales and maximize the total holiday profits. It is not always obvious for the customer that your business has gift cards unless they are displayed prominently and advertised through clever digital signs. Implementing your digital signage at the right times is key; while your signs play and are intermingled throughout the day, increasing the frequency during peak hours of service will ferment the idea of gift giving in your customers’ minds.
Taking the holidays into account to spruce up your signs will also make them more relevant to the time of year and striking to your customers. Include holiday-specific promotions that can be linked to using or purchasing gift cards in your daily rotation of signage.
Ensuring that your gift cards are accessible will increase the overall gift card sales; selling them both online and in-store is necessary in today’s tech savvy world. Putting them online will also help with spreading knowledge about your gift card promotion, particularly if it is newer to your sales repertoire.
Even though the retail and service industries often see their highest profits during the holidays, leveraging gift cards and related promotions will help maximize and improve those profits even further.
