The Gift - Savvy Merchant: A Must For Independent Retailers, Restaurateurs Together With Service Establishments
Guest post past times John S. Harris
It’s Thanksgiving Week together with vacation decorations, seasonal recipes, vacation sales together with special promotions start to scream at all of us. The accuse is underway, together with a big chunk of the activeness every vacation flavour is that special currency known every bit gift certificates, or gift cards. How does the independent merchant compete with the chains to brand the most of the opportunity?
The answer for the independent is the same every bit it’s ever been. Focus on your client base. This is a strong adapt for independents, many of whom tend to personally know or at to the lowest degree recognize their best customers. These are your most loyal, most frequent, most spending, or roughly combination therein. These folks also stand upwards for your referral marketing network. The vacation flavour is the perfect fourth dimension to engage together with wages them. Though it helps greatly to utilize an online gift certificate service, it’s non essential.
What is essential is to re-think your gift certificate or gift bill of fare strategy to do 2 things: wages your fan base; together with wages the potential novel fans they convey into your orbit.Gift Certificates together with Gift Cards pick out obvious together with good known advantages, inaugural with them beingness cash inwards the banking enterprise good earlier the sale that ultimately credits against it. But their less hyped advantages prevarication inwards their inherent viral marketing properties. Gifts are all almost giving, of course, together with there’s ever a Buyer, together with a Recipient involved – 2 consumers, non one.
Turning i consumer into 2 consumers is the real Definition of viral marketing. Therefore, every unmarried sale of a gift certificate is an outstanding shot at a viral marketing win.
So hither are roughly suggestions for making the most of your gift certificate or gift bill of fare opportunities.
Issuance together with Redemption Basics: Get the nuts together with bolts inwards house for the rush. You cannot afford to arrive hard or time-consuming for consumers to either buy, or redeem, gift currencies from your business. If you’ve already got a organisation inwards place, together with then goodness for you. If not, I’ve lay together a tabular array (inset, below) that lays out the basics of the commercial gift footing – the tools accessible to you lot to piece of job the gift business.
• Treat Gift Buyers together with Redeemers THE BEST. Sure, you lot together with your staff process everyone well, but the folks buying together with redeeming are the best existing, together with potentially best new, customers. Viral!
• Make Them Available Online. It’s a must that customers tin purchase them 24X7 together with frankly, it’s a pretty basic courtesy. Widespread, inexpensive together with easy; run across the tabular array of online gift certificate services (below), if you’re non already there.
• Stock Up. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 one-dollar gift bill of fare tin travel sold for easily i hundred times that amount, or more. Not a fourth dimension to teach caught curt on either your newspaper or mag-stripe gift stock.
• Train The Troops. You together with your staff must travel fluent inwards the sale, together with redemption cycle, peculiarly the POS constituent of it. It costs zip to laid roughly do sessions.
• Review Your Denominations. Maybe you’ve been selling $10 certificates or cards for years, but your average banking enterprise gibe is $16. Does that brand sense?
• Know the Law. Every state is different, but there’s been a flurry of both state together with federal legislation inwards the past times 2 years. Go to http://www.consumersunion.org/, for a peachy summary.
Marketing Basics: It is crucial to permit your customers together with employees know almost your gift offerings. Some inexpensive (or free), straight marketing programs that you lot tin brand give inwards a distich of days:
• Eye-catching Signs or Posters:
• “Gift Certificates Available – On-Line or In-Store at…”
• Table or Counter Displays. Same message
• Staff Buttons. Fast together with cheap, a 1000000 places online tin create them for you lot overnight
• Flyers:
-Start putting a elementary flyer into every pocketbook or box; inwards every check-presenter, etc.
• Add to Voice Mail message:
-“Our gift certificates are available 24X7 online…”; or “We’re opened upwards special hours this twelvemonth to furnish gift certificates…”
• Add elementary text at the bottom of your receipts or invoices
• Staff Training. It’s slowly to simply get upwards that you lot offering gift certificates or gift cards
Promotion Plan: Work the gift concern both online (see tabular array of online gift certificate services, below) together with offline. Some proven strategies include:
• Give Free Gift Certificates to your best customers. Send them via post service or email, an actual Gift Certificate / Card with a personal message, e.g.,”Thanks for you lot concern over the years.” Make certain you lot do it inwards a agency that makes it real slowly for the recipient to re-gift it if they want. Most recipients volition pass to a greater extent than on the back-end, both inwards purchases together with inwards referral business. If you’re every bit good busy, roughly companies volition do a special run of Gift Certificates consummate with personalized messaging together with consummate fulfillment for a real small-scale fee.
• Buy a Gift Certificate / Get a Gift Certificate. This advertisement rewards the purchaser with an additional, or separate, gift of their own. This is peculiarly effective with piece of job administrators, because when the purchaser buys a $50 gift card/certificate, they would typically have a $10 i for themselves. The big chains do real good with this strategy – Smith & Wollensky’s is i of many examples of what a proven technique it is. Online gift certificate systems (see tabular array below) are peculiarly skilful at automating this together with capturing all the buyer together with recipient info.
• Presuming you lot already pick out roughly bird of client listing or database, this is the flavour to intend to a greater extent than professionally almost how it needs to travel happening all twelvemonth long. You do non desire to win novel customers without capturing roughly basic contact information almost them! Get your website upwards to speed on this. Ask whoever handles your website to add together a elementary online bird for customers to bring together your mailing listing – it’s petty together with real inexpensive.
• Send a follow-up “Thank You” via e-mail or personal notation to recipient together with giver later redemption. If the recipient is a source fourth dimension customer, give cheers them for coming to your shop together with reinforce your finish of personal service together with production selection. Also, shipping a ‘Thank You” to the buyer for introducing a novel client to you lot together with sending a best client dorsum to you. This elementary courtesy is worth its’ weight inwards gold.
Gift Systems. It’s a brave novel footing out in that location every bit far every bit online gift certificate services are concerned. Your most successful competitors are already there. If you’re not, it’s never every bit good late. Most of the systems today tin travel upwards together with running inwards literally i or 2 days. I lay this tabular array together to essay together with simplify a pretty complicated industry. There are billion-dollar vendors together with tiny start-ups inwards this space, together with hundreds of companies. So this is only my essay to clarify what’s out there.
Check out the "Landscape of Online Gift Certificate Services Available to Small Businesses" here...
About The Author - John S. Harris has been a small-scale concern consultant for over 20 years. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 quondam possessor together with operator himself, John is a main inwards Lynch + Harris, a consulting theatre specializing inwards operations management together with marketing communications that helps independent restaurants together with retailers expand their concern together with amend their operations. John tin travel reached at ircharris@gmail.com
The answer for the independent is the same every bit it’s ever been. Focus on your client base. This is a strong adapt for independents, many of whom tend to personally know or at to the lowest degree recognize their best customers. These are your most loyal, most frequent, most spending, or roughly combination therein. These folks also stand upwards for your referral marketing network. The vacation flavour is the perfect fourth dimension to engage together with wages them. Though it helps greatly to utilize an online gift certificate service, it’s non essential. What is essential is to re-think your gift certificate or gift bill of fare strategy to do 2 things: wages your fan base; together with wages the potential novel fans they convey into your orbit.Gift Certificates together with Gift Cards pick out obvious together with good known advantages, inaugural with them beingness cash inwards the banking enterprise good earlier the sale that ultimately credits against it. But their less hyped advantages prevarication inwards their inherent viral marketing properties. Gifts are all almost giving, of course, together with there’s ever a Buyer, together with a Recipient involved – 2 consumers, non one.
Turning i consumer into 2 consumers is the real Definition of viral marketing. Therefore, every unmarried sale of a gift certificate is an outstanding shot at a viral marketing win.
So hither are roughly suggestions for making the most of your gift certificate or gift bill of fare opportunities.
Issuance together with Redemption Basics: Get the nuts together with bolts inwards house for the rush. You cannot afford to arrive hard or time-consuming for consumers to either buy, or redeem, gift currencies from your business. If you’ve already got a organisation inwards place, together with then goodness for you. If not, I’ve lay together a tabular array (inset, below) that lays out the basics of the commercial gift footing – the tools accessible to you lot to piece of job the gift business.
• Treat Gift Buyers together with Redeemers THE BEST. Sure, you lot together with your staff process everyone well, but the folks buying together with redeeming are the best existing, together with potentially best new, customers. Viral!
• Make Them Available Online. It’s a must that customers tin purchase them 24X7 together with frankly, it’s a pretty basic courtesy. Widespread, inexpensive together with easy; run across the tabular array of online gift certificate services (below), if you’re non already there.
• Stock Up. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 one-dollar gift bill of fare tin travel sold for easily i hundred times that amount, or more. Not a fourth dimension to teach caught curt on either your newspaper or mag-stripe gift stock.
• Train The Troops. You together with your staff must travel fluent inwards the sale, together with redemption cycle, peculiarly the POS constituent of it. It costs zip to laid roughly do sessions.
• Review Your Denominations. Maybe you’ve been selling $10 certificates or cards for years, but your average banking enterprise gibe is $16. Does that brand sense?
• Know the Law. Every state is different, but there’s been a flurry of both state together with federal legislation inwards the past times 2 years. Go to http://www.consumersunion.org/, for a peachy summary.
Marketing Basics: It is crucial to permit your customers together with employees know almost your gift offerings. Some inexpensive (or free), straight marketing programs that you lot tin brand give inwards a distich of days:
• Eye-catching Signs or Posters:
• “Gift Certificates Available – On-Line or In-Store at…”
• Table or Counter Displays. Same message
• Staff Buttons. Fast together with cheap, a 1000000 places online tin create them for you lot overnight
• Flyers:
-Start putting a elementary flyer into every pocketbook or box; inwards every check-presenter, etc.
• Add to Voice Mail message:
-“Our gift certificates are available 24X7 online…”; or “We’re opened upwards special hours this twelvemonth to furnish gift certificates…”
• Add elementary text at the bottom of your receipts or invoices
• Staff Training. It’s slowly to simply get upwards that you lot offering gift certificates or gift cards
Promotion Plan: Work the gift concern both online (see tabular array of online gift certificate services, below) together with offline. Some proven strategies include:
• Give Free Gift Certificates to your best customers. Send them via post service or email, an actual Gift Certificate / Card with a personal message, e.g.,”Thanks for you lot concern over the years.” Make certain you lot do it inwards a agency that makes it real slowly for the recipient to re-gift it if they want. Most recipients volition pass to a greater extent than on the back-end, both inwards purchases together with inwards referral business. If you’re every bit good busy, roughly companies volition do a special run of Gift Certificates consummate with personalized messaging together with consummate fulfillment for a real small-scale fee.
• Buy a Gift Certificate / Get a Gift Certificate. This advertisement rewards the purchaser with an additional, or separate, gift of their own. This is peculiarly effective with piece of job administrators, because when the purchaser buys a $50 gift card/certificate, they would typically have a $10 i for themselves. The big chains do real good with this strategy – Smith & Wollensky’s is i of many examples of what a proven technique it is. Online gift certificate systems (see tabular array below) are peculiarly skilful at automating this together with capturing all the buyer together with recipient info.
• Presuming you lot already pick out roughly bird of client listing or database, this is the flavour to intend to a greater extent than professionally almost how it needs to travel happening all twelvemonth long. You do non desire to win novel customers without capturing roughly basic contact information almost them! Get your website upwards to speed on this. Ask whoever handles your website to add together a elementary online bird for customers to bring together your mailing listing – it’s petty together with real inexpensive.
• Send a follow-up “Thank You” via e-mail or personal notation to recipient together with giver later redemption. If the recipient is a source fourth dimension customer, give cheers them for coming to your shop together with reinforce your finish of personal service together with production selection. Also, shipping a ‘Thank You” to the buyer for introducing a novel client to you lot together with sending a best client dorsum to you. This elementary courtesy is worth its’ weight inwards gold.
Gift Systems. It’s a brave novel footing out in that location every bit far every bit online gift certificate services are concerned. Your most successful competitors are already there. If you’re not, it’s never every bit good late. Most of the systems today tin travel upwards together with running inwards literally i or 2 days. I lay this tabular array together to essay together with simplify a pretty complicated industry. There are billion-dollar vendors together with tiny start-ups inwards this space, together with hundreds of companies. So this is only my essay to clarify what’s out there.
Check out the "Landscape of Online Gift Certificate Services Available to Small Businesses" here...
About The Author - John S. Harris has been a small-scale concern consultant for over 20 years. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 quondam possessor together with operator himself, John is a main inwards Lynch + Harris, a consulting theatre specializing inwards operations management together with marketing communications that helps independent restaurants together with retailers expand their concern together with amend their operations. John tin travel reached at ircharris@gmail.com
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