Ready or not gift giving season has arrived! Toy stores have released this year’s most coveted toys, Black Friday mailers have been circulated, gift card specials have been announced and limited time offers with discount codes that can be redeemed online are hitting email inboxes.
The good news is that it’s not too late! You can still capture your share of the holiday spending craze. Here are some tips on how to boost your gift card sales this holiday season.
The Power of Gift Cards
It’s no surprise that gift cards are on everyone’s holiday wish list. In fact, the National Retail Federation reported that consumers spent a whopping $23.6 billion on gift cards during the holiday season last year, with an average purchase of $40 per card. Adults aren’t the only ones receiving gift cards. A separate survey on gift cards reported that 80% of respondents said that they would likely buy at least one gift card for a child.
Online & In-Store
We’ve identified that gift cards are an excellent way to boost holiday sales. Now, let’s talk about how you capture your share of the gift card purchase this holiday season. Step number one is promoting your gift card specials on your website, through email and social media campaigns, and of course in-store!
- In-Store Gift Cards: Train your staff to speak with each customer that comes in about your gift card specials. Incentivize your team to promote gift card sales by rewarding them for reaching their sales goals. The reward could be anything from buying lunch for the top three sellers to allowing your team to wear their favorite ugly sweater to work one day during the holiday season.
- Online or eGift Cards: Utilize your website and social media pages to promote eGift cards that can be purchased through your website. Your customers will appreciate the convenience of the online purchase and with our modern interface they will be able to complete their eGift card purchase in three easy steps.
Run a Gift Card Promotion
Consumers love a good deal. Even the slightest discount on a gift card can make the purchase more appealing to potential buyers. One way to make a gift card purchase more appealing is to present your customers with a limited time offer that rewards them for purchasing a gift card at your venue. For example, you can run a promotion that provides $5 off for every $25 in gift card value. Just remember to advertise that the promotion is only good through the 2019 holiday season.
Reward Your Current Customers
The last holiday promotion is ideal for thanking your loyal customers. The week before Christmas run a thank you promotion. This could be as simple as providing each customer that visits your venue during that week a discount code, they can use online to purchase jump or play time in the new year.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Regardless of the promotion you choose to run, it’s imperative that you do a deep dive into the analytics of the campaign once it’s concluded. This will not only help you understand if it was a success or not, it will also help you decipher what promotions you might want to employ throughout the new year.
The Bottom Line
Increasing sales at your entertainment center during the holiday season can really pay off and getting started isn’t as hard as you may have thought. If you’d like to know more about how Active8 Software approaches discount codes, in-store gift cards sales, eGift card sales and reporting, please visit our site. If you would like to see the Active8 Software system in action, call us at 888-500-2618 to schedule a demo.