Why retailers should promote them?
Often given as presents in the run-up to end of year celebrations or for birthdays, gift cards are clearly continuing their ascent; in the last decade they have become anchored in the shopping habits of millions of consumers.
Gift cards are a tremendous source of additional sales for retailers, whether they run big chains or manage independent stores.
A card full of benefits: from attracting customers at the point of sale to enhancing loyalty
A powerful acquisition tool
Gift cards help to attract new customers to stores. The desire to take advantage of their gift card encourages recipients to cross the thresholds of shops they had never previously entered. According to a study conducted in 2017 based on a sample of more than 2000 US consumers, 44% of customers go to a store they would not have otherwise visited if they had not been in possession of a gift card.
A powerful loyalty tool
While gift cards are offered for sale, they are also used as a marketing tool to boost customer loyalty. The gift card therefore becomes a bonus for the customer, encouraging them to return to the store at a time when they might not have considered it. Used especially during periods of sluggish sales, gift cards with an expiry date increase the number of visitors to stores and thus generate additional sales.
On the management side, gift cards are effective in motivating and rewarding your teams, thereby increasing the profitability of your business.
A card that provides additional income
Gift cards come with guarantees that are highly valued by retailers:
- Security: cards can be disabled in stores before being sold, and only activated at the checkout, which negates any risk related to their theft.
- Generation of additional sales:
- According to the American study quoted above, in 2017 customers spent an average of $38 more than the value indicated on the gift card they received – $10 more than in 2016*. Gift cards thus generate additional sales compared to the value initially sold.
- And if the recipient does not use the gift card, money has still changed hands in the store, at the very low cost of issuing the card.
Effective communication tool
Decked out with the brand's logo, gift cards are attractive and an excellent communication tool for a store. Choosing a gift card demonstrates the buyer's attachment to the issuing store: by giving a gift card, they automatically become a brand ambassador. This makes the store all the more attractive to the recipient of the card, whether or not they were a customer beforehand.
A card that makes the difference
Another advantage of gift cards: their ability to be personalized! By offering a gift card personalization service, retailers set themselves apart from their competitors and bring real added value to cards. Solutions make it possible to personalize the gift cards directly within the stores, either using card printers operating at the store's reception desk, or at self-service kiosks. The gift card can then be as customizable as the retailer wants: by adding personal text, choosing colors, inserting a photo, and defining the desired value.
Choose Evolis gift card printing solutions
The range of Evolis printers makes it possible to issue standard or personalized gift cards according to retailers' needs. Renowned for their reliability, print quality, and ease of use, Evolis printers offer a variety of options:
- Compact systems for printing gift cards with or without data encoding (magnetic strip, contact or contactless chip) directly in the store.
- Production of gift cards in large quantities with the Quantum printer or pre-printing cards in an office and then adding personal data (printing and/or encoding) within the store.
- Issuing gift cards in a self-service kiosk in the store by integrating an Evolis printer in a dedicated kiosk: customers can freely choose the amount and design of their gift card.
