The Gift that keeps on giving!

Many retailers have treated gift cards as an add-on on sale or incremental business. Gift cards are more than that, and should be displayed and presented to customers much more prominently. I have some clients who put up a holiday tree decorated with gift cards in a prime location near the checkout. Gift cards have become the gift of choice for both buyer and recipient. The buyer knows they are giving a gift that provides certainty and the recipient is empowered to buy exactly what they want. THE NRF projects that the average gift card purchase will increase to $47.87 this holiday season up from $45.16 last year. The retailer is also a big beneficiary of gift card sales. Consumers typically up spent and buy more expensive items since they treat the gift card as free money. Gift card redemption extends the holiday season since gift cards are redeemed after Christmas. Smart retailers recognize this and postpone post season sales to take advantage of this. The last benefit to retailers is that between 6% and 12% of the value of gift cards are never redeemed depending on the retail sector. Depending on the escheats law in your particular state the retailer can keep that money as long as they don’t put an expiration date on their gift cards. So if haven’t taken full advantage of the power of gifts give a try to this holiday season and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.