The festive season is nearly upon us! The twinkling lights. The sound of carol singers. The smell of pigs in blankets and fluffy golden potatoes roasting in the oven. Oh, and the mad last minute customer rush on Christmas Eve as they try and find that perfect present. Or maybe not…
Christmas is a time that’s meant to be spent relaxing with loved ones, not panicking about what presents to buy or worrying someone isn’t going to like what they’re unwrapping. Every year, the customer’s quest to find that perfect present gets harder and harder. The wrong size. The wrong colour. Or just the wrong idea.
That’s the trouble with gifting something physical – an object someone can hold in their hand – if they really wanted it, wouldn’t they simply have bought it for themselves?
The same can’t quite be said for a memory, or a moment. A special occasion that a loved one will remember for years to come. That’s the perfect gift. An experience that people can look back on and enjoy, long after the gift has been given. And luckily for your customers, gifting that feeling has never been easier.
Gift vouchers are one of the few retail products that continue to grow their sales YoY, with more and more shoppers turning to vouchers to gift an experience, rather than a ‘thing’ for Christmas.
Not only are they convenient for the customer, but they’re a great way for retailers themselves to boost profits too, providing shoppers with a solution for that special gift without creating stock issues, wasting money on advertising or struggling to deliver physical goods in time.
All this is possible when you choose the right gift voucher partner, one that helps you sell more vouchers to customers and bring more money into your business without stress, hassle or last-minute panic on the customers’ end.
Here’s how:
Gift vouchers echo your physical and online branding
During the lead up to Christmas, business owners spend enough time thinking about decorating the store or promoting leading products, that there’s not loads left to consider additional branding. Giftpro takes this into consideration, with our team on hand to ensure your branded voucher store matches the look and feel of the rest of the business.
This not only happens online, but on the physical vouchers too. This means that when a customer buys your voucher – be it for a meal, an exclusive taster menu or a limited-edition bottle of champagne – your branding is front and centre both when they buy the voucher and on it too, so the recipient immediately forms a connection with the gift and your business.
Vouchers – and products – are delivered to your customers on time
Pairing things back to the nitty gritty of Christmas – everyone needs their gifts to be delivered on time. This is yet another area where vouchers excel, with a digital voucher delivered instantly, but physical vouchers and even additional products – think a bottle of wine to accompany an afternoon tea for two voucher – fulfilled by the gifting partner and shipped to your customer without any additional hassle or stress.
This saves your business time and effort packaging and delivering products, and keeps customers happy as they know their voucher is going to reach their chosen recipient in plenty of time for that special day.
Your products and services become thoughtful experiences
As we mentioned earlier, one of the most important – and often difficult – things when it comes to gift giving is finding something meaningful. Gift vouchers work here as not only can customers choose an experience specific to an individual’s likes or hobbies, but they can also add a personalised video message to really make that unwrapping moment stand out.
This heightens the gift and studies have found that when the recipient then looks back on the memory of redeeming the voucher – the experience they enjoyed – they will also remember the moment they received it and the accompanying message. Therefore, a positive emotional connection will be formed between the individual and your business, creating a faux-pavlovian effect whereby whenever they recall that moment – and sometimes even the individual they shared that experience with – they will recall your brand and feel positive emotions towards it.
Discover how you can make Christmas more personal with Giftpro
Giftpro is built to help hospitality businesses grow their revenue through gift vouchers. When there’s little time to manage campaigns or run complicated marketing tactics, the team at Giftpro is on hand to ensure you get the most from your voucher campaigns, offering customers the answer to personalised gifting they didn’t know they were looking for.
To find out how Giftpro can help you maximise revenue during the festive period, speak to a member of our team or download our free toolkit.
