A Three-Pronged Approach to Increasing Gift Card Sales

After the November 2 elections, the most important colors will shift from red and blue to red and green, and another holiday season will begin. Uncertainty about the economic forecast is the only sure thing once again this year -- no one can accurately predict whether or not shoppers will be spending freely or cautiously. However, this year's market research does show a steady increase in the use of electronic gift cards. Results from the fourth annual Consumer Insights Survey, recently released by Value Link LLC found that more Americans now give electronic gift cards rather than cash or gift certificates.

According to the survey, 64 percent of U.S. adults said that they bought or received a gift card in the previous 12 months -- a 36 percent increase over ValueLink's 2001 survey. In addition, the survey found that, on average, consumers bought about seven gift cards in the previous 12 months, each with an average value of $59, as compared with a 12 month average of four cards at $44 per card in 2001. More than one-quarter of gift card recipients reported that they spent the initial value of their card within a week of getting it, and another 31 percent spent that value within a month. And 55 percent of survey respondents said that they spent more than the initial value of the card they received.

Stores offering Book Sense Gift Cards are reporting similar gains. Not only is card use up, with usage significantly greater than gift certificates, but booksellers are finding the Web site fast and easy to use. Here are some tips, many suggested by other booksellers, for maximizing the potential of Book Sense Gift Cards.

Train

• Educate all staff about the gift card program. Hold special meetings and training sessions to review how to sell, redeem, and handle customer service issues with gift cards. Everyone who works in the store should know the procedures and be able to recognize Book Sense Gift Cards from other bookstores.
• Encourage staff to increase card sales through incentives. Track gift card sales easily, by individual operator IDs, through the "reports" function.

Display

• Be creative in the way you display Book Sense gift cards. You can find some useful ideas at news.bookweb.org/read/2407.
• Put up shelf-talkers promoting gift cards to help undecided shoppers pick the perfect gift. (Downloadable shelf-talkers are available at www.bookweb.org/read/6649.) Display cards all over the store to encourage impulse buys and to remind customers that they can send the gift of books to friends and loved ones in other places around the country, chain-free. Punch a hole in a card and hang it from the ceiling.
• Put the "Book Sense National Gift Card Available and Welcome Here" countercard and decal in visible locations. Order more from Linda Ford at [email protected].
• Feeling creative? Package each card in a handmade envelope constructed from old f&g's. Or glue a pin to the back of a used gift card and write "Ask Me About Gift Cards" with marker on the front. Encourage staff to wear the pins.

Handmade envelopes constructed from old f&g's make attractive packaging for Book Sense gift cards.

Promote

• Integrate information about the Book Sense Gift Card into all materials -- your Web site, newsletters, catalogs, advertisements, signs, and bag stuffers.
• Involve other merchants in promotions. Load $5 onto a number of cards and distribute them among local businesspeople and community leaders. Invite them to visit the store.
• Use Book Sense Gift Cards whenever you contribute to local events. Include $5 gift cards as favors in "goodie bags" for marathons and other fundraisers.