|
Gift_Cards_Is_It_Time_to_Use_Them_for_My_Business
| Gift Cards, Is It Time to Use Them for My Business?
You're probably thinking, here we go again somebody is trying to
sell me something that I really don't need. I'm sure it will
benefit them, but will it benefit me? Firstly let me say that my
company, Solutions Ink does sell gift and loyalty cards. The
market out there while huge is certainly not for anyone. Who
then are these cards good for?
These cards are great for chain stores with multiple locations
and for stores with very loyal repeat customers. Why are these
stores prime candidates? First let's examine the large chain
stores. Today more than ever people's disposable time is very
limited. Buying a gift for someone takes time and effort in
researching a product the person might enjoy , and then finding
the right size and color. Today everybody is looking for
convenience. It takes 2 minutes at a cash register to get a gift
card. Firstly the price you want to pay is exactly the amount on
the card. If the recipient wants something more expensive, they
can simply add onto it. The recepient can spend his time finding
the right size and color and shop when he or she wants the item.
As far as the store goes, they know that once they've sold you
the gift card, the sale is coming. Their cash flow is improved
because the cash sits in their bank account t'ill you use it.
More importantly a growing percent of people who receive these
cards never use them. Lastly, most people end up spending more
then thier gift card in the store. The question really isn't why
should I invest in gift cards but rather why I am I not running
out to purchase them?
Another great reason is dut to the technological revolution.
With bar codes and mag stripes affixed on the back of the cards,
the stores are now able to capture important information about
the end user. They can see who uses them, what they use them for
and create new marketing campaigns targetted to these people and
uses to get an even larger percent of these people's
discretionary income.
The second type of person is a smaller business store who is
trying to direct more traffic to their store. A new twist on
these gift cards is actually selling the cards at a discount or
partnering up with some loyalty card company to offer them as
rewards. What ever discount they give either to the purchaser or
to the loyalty card program is easily made up on the benefits of
the cards, whether it be directed new sales, never used cards or
getting their customer to spend more than the gift card amount.
Does this sound interesting to you, then run to either give me a
call at 514-337-2238 or email me at info@solutionsink4u.com, to
see how we can help your company make more money? Why are we
letting just the big guys make the easy money? Let Walmart, The
Gap, Macy's, Chapters, Barnes and Nobles, Starbucks, and Sear's
know that we're all going to get a piece of this lucrative
market. Check us out at www.solutionsink4u.com Steven Schneidman
About the author:
Steven Schneidman has a B.A. in Psychology and an MBA, was a
professor in finance at a Montreal University, worked for the
secong largest bank in Canada and has and does own 2 printing
and promotional product companies. He does work with many
Fortune 500 companies as well as a slew of smaller companies all
over Canada and the United States.
|
|
| |
| |
