If you've never tried some of the ideas below, you just might sell more gift cards next week than you've ever sold before!
Unfortunately, Father's Day gets less attention than it deserves. A typical celebration for Mother's Day lasts two hours longer than that of Father's Day and we are much more likely to skip getting dad a gift than we are our moms. Estimated spending for Mother's Day is $16 billion compared to $9.9 billion on Father's Day. For every dad who stayed, worked, provided, played catch, taught us to drive a car and all the other wonderful things that our fathers do, we should celebrate them.
Many Americans are going to Google the phrase "ideas for Father's Day gifts" this weekend and guess what most of the articles are going to recommend. You guessed it! 1.) Gift Cards to his favorite restaurant 2.) A Gift Card to his favorite retail store 3.) A Gift Card to a place that has items he likes but ordinarily wouldn't buy for himself. (That's how I got my Ipod.)
Did you know that over 32% of the gifts purchased for Father's day will be gift cards? That's more than electronics and tools combined! That's a massive chunk out of the $10 billion being spent over the next few days.
So how do you get your share of the $3 billion that will be spent buying gift cards next week? I'm glad you asked.
First, think about the fact that most of us have more than one father figure in our lives that we want to recognize. However, we typically want to show the greater appreciation for the father who raised us. You can give us a great opportunity to do something really nice for Dad and still remember those step dads, uncles, mentors, grandfathers, etc. who have meant so much to us.
Father's Day Gift Card Ideas:
1.) Offer a Father's Day Special where your customers can buy one card for $100.00 and receive two $20.00 gift cards free! (If your store has higher or smaller average tickets feel free to tweak this to suit your business.) A restaurant could do "Buy a $50 gift card for Dad and get two $10 cards free".
This puts several hundred dollars into your cash flow next week prior to any merchandise leaving your store and you'll increase your traffic. You probably have customers who were going to spend $60 or $70 but because of your promotion they go ahead and spend $100 to receive the free cards! (We've seen this happen over and over with our clients.)
And if you're worried about losing money, it's impossible. Gift card recipients only redeem 61% of the value on the card. So for every $100 you sell, $39 is going directly to your bottom line, making it easy for you to afford marketing promotions like this to increase traffic. If giving away two cards is unreasonable for your particular business you might offer a "Buy 1 Card For $50 & Get ONE $10 Card Free".
2.) Tweak that first idea a little and offer to anybody who spends X amount of dollars (i.e. $100) on any item in your store and they receive two $15.00 gift cards free. This works great for the customer who sees exactly what they want to purchase for their father, it's $79.95 and now they have an incentive to spend just a little more to hit the $100 mark for their free gift cards. You just increased your revenue and planted two "miniature billboards" in a couple wallets out there.
3.) Let's say you own an auto parts store. You've put together some car cleaning kits made of of a few different items and you've put a sign up that reads "Great Father's Day Gift - Car Cleaning Kit - $24.95". I think that's a great idea for my uncle or father-in-law but I want to do something a little more for my dad. Offer your kit for free to anyone who buys a $100 gift card.
4.) Make sure that your gift cards and any promotions you're offering are displayed prominently throughout your store.
If you're like many of my merchants the ideas listed above will not be the exact plan that will work for you. But after reading these ideas and thinking about your particular business and the items you sell you will easily be able to create a plan that will work.
Your customers will appreciate you for solving their challenge of what to get their dad, uncle, and football coach for Father's Day. You'll reap the nice cash flow and gain a few new customers. Ask yourself what you spent on advertising last year compared to how many new clients you gained. For a fraction of that amount you can add dozens of new customers next week by being creative with your gift card program.
You'll also be doing your part to make sure that fathers everywhere are remembered this Father's Day.
Jason Banther, CEO
Dynamic Payment Innovations, Inc.
A First Data Independent Sales Agency
http://www.fdis-chatt.com
Jason can be reached at FDIS Chattanooga, 423-648-9877
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