I've seen firsthand how gift cards can sell well in shops. Let's dive into a clever gift voucher marketing strategy that your POS System can help boost your sales and customer base.

The Power of Gift Cards

If you have an excellent shop, many people today, rather than picking a gift for someone, will buy them a gift card. Studies show that customers often spend more than the gift card value when redeeming, providing an additional boost to your bottom line.

A Smart Gift Card Sales Tip

Here's a gift card sales tip that I've seen work wonders:

Offer a discount on gift cards using this approach, where you offer a 2.5% discount with a twist.

1. Offer a $100 gift card
2. Then provide a separate $2.50 gift card to the buyer as a thank-you bonus

This strategy can:

• Potentially bring in two customers (the gift recipient and the buyer)
• Encourage the buyer to return to your store
• Create a positive association with your brand

Real-World Success Story

I worked with a local boutique that implemented this strategy during the holiday season. The results were impressive.

Implementing Your Gift Card Program

To make your gift card program successful:

1. Train your staff to explain the benefits to customers
2. Promote the offer through in-store signage
3. Track results using your POS system

Gift Cards and Retail Loyalty Programs

Consider integrating your gift card offerings with your retail loyalty program. This can:

• Encourage repeat purchases
• Increase the customer lifetime value
• Provide valuable data on customer preferences

The Numbers Game

Let's break down the potential impact:

Conclusion

In the world of retail, small innovations can make a big difference to your bottom line.

Every inch of your store, including the front counter, should be utilised to its full potential as a retailer. Your greeting card sales can increase by being displayed there. So increase sales by having a small stand for greeting cards at the front counter. This makes it easy for people in your shop to add cards to their purchases.

Why have a greeting card stand for the front counter?

The front counter is a region that all clients visit while buying. It is the most profitable and marketable place in the shop. Customers often wait and look around to see what else you offer. A card is a great addon to buy with many goods. By doing this, you are making it simple for your customers to buy your greeting cards.

Which Cards Should Go in this Stand?

It is only a small stand. You may have many cards in another part of the shop, but most have not selected them so you are giving them a second chance to buy a card. To do that you must ensure that the cards you offer are suitable for impulsive purchases. So it would be best if you were careful here what to offer.

Birthday cards account for approximately 60% of all card sales, so they go on the stand. They have many designs ranging from lighthearted, humorous, sentimental and sincere so you can include many types.

About 20% of all sales are of seasonal cards, for example, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day. Since these cards are only needed at certain times of the year, you must keep replacing them here at the appropriate times.

The remaining categories, such as sympathy, wedding, and thank-you cards, individually they make up less than 5% of sales each. Maybe consider including a few generic all-purpose cards, such as congratulations or thinking of you cards, that can be used for many occasions instead.

How to Install Your Stand Installing a stand for your greeting cards.

This is simple and requires little investment. You'll need a little presentation stand. Card companies can often provide this to you for free or at a nominal cost. If not, you can get one on eBay.

Using the stand.

Now you will need to arrange your cards once you have your stand. The most crucial factor is ensuring customers can see and grab them while standing at the front counter since it is an impulsive sale. Bunch cards by type and ensure that every type is clearly shown. Use signage to emphasise the types on offer. Now make sure your stand is clean and well-kept. Most of my clients sell quality items and should be treated with respect. Restock your cards frequently and cut any that aren't selling well. This will guarantee that your customers will always find your stand appealing and up-to-date.

Using Sales Reports to Improve Your Stand.

It's essential to keep track of your sales and use this data to improve your stand to determine which cards are selling well and which aren't. Use your sales reports. You only want your top-selling cards here. Using this information, you'll be better able to choose which cards to include in your stand. The report that can quickly give you your top sellers. Go to the top N stock report, which you can find in the register reports here.

We then put in a period. As a rule, I suggest running this report monthly for this, so select the last 4 weeks. Now you will have your list of cards nicely ordered by quantity, profit and sales.

Summary

> A greeting card stand at the front counter can help boost profits and impulsive purchases.

> Since birthday cards sell 60% of all cards, they should be on the stand.

Christmas and Valentine's Day cards, as well as other seasonal ones, ought to be included and changed as necessary.

> Make use of a presentation stand. Mark the cards by type so that they are simple to see.

> Remove any cards that aren't selling well

> Keep the stand clean and well-stocked.

> Adjust the stand based on the results of sales reports to determine which cards are selling well and which aren't.

Give it a go!

Particular times of the year have different customers with different needs, one of the big reasons are holidays. You can pick up more sales by being ready with the right stock.

Well, it's time to start detailed planning for 2023.

Click here for a site with an excellent list of holidays in Australia; what I particularly like about it, is if I require an explanation of the holiday, all I need to do is click on holiday, and I get a decent description.

Why do calendars change every year?

Few reasons, mainly because 365 days a year means we move forward one day a year as 365 does not divide into seven evenly. Today the 30 December 2022, will be a Friday, but the 30 December 2023 will be a Saturday. The next big problem is that many holidays are set but the moon, so they follow the lunar calendar. Then there are other reasons, e.g. different calendars, but the result is that many holidays in 2023 will be held differently than in 2022, so you need to remember these days.

Plan for holiday-specific merchandise or products

It's essential to ensure you have the right stock for the particular holiday; for example, on Sunday, 12 November 2023, many Diwali candles will be sold. Some of these are very beautiful. If you have the right products in stock, you can drive sales.

There are a few key things to consider when determining what stock to keep on hand for a holiday:

Know your audience

Think about who your customers are and what they might be interested in buying. If you need more clarification, ask them. See if you can meet the needs of your customers during that holiday.

Conclusion.

Think about what you need to do to prepare for the holidays.

PS Looking for more ideas

Use this page above and check out other countries where people in your area would be interested.

Well, inflation is here; it's a fact that prices are going up. Here is something for you to consider. This is something that all your suppliers are thinking long and hard about. Here is what they are doing about it.

Let's say there is a parcel of 36 cans for 18 dollars or 50 cents each.

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Such bulk packing is commonly used to sell many different items, e.g. gift cards, dog food etc. Many suppliers and retailers often put together items to make their own bulk parcels.

Now you sell these 36 at $18 with a unit price of $0.50. There is a price rise of 10 cents, so now the unit price requires you to sell at $0.60. This makes the price for this parcel $21.60, which rounded up to $22 or, if you are being sophisticated, to $21.99. Nothing we can do about it. It's the new price.

Often where the market and suppliers set the prices and packet sizes, but sometimes people have flexibility. If so, they have three choices.

1) Reduce the packet number and sell the new packet at the old price.
2) Keep selling the same packet but at a dearer price.
3) A combination of both, change the package size and increase the unit price, so it is a new item at a new price point.

Research shows the consumer prefers the last combination; here is a detailed explanation for you to chew over.

The end result, we see packets with new sizes coming out.

Calculating Margins badly Can Cost You Money.

These newsbars highlight a problem: some are still miscalculating margin. A few days ago, I had to spend some time going over this with a client. This one is interesting because no one is trying to confuse anyone here.

The formula for margin is straightforward.

Margin = 1-Cost/Price

People get confused because a supplier often quotes the Cost EX GST while the Price is quoted INCL GST.  To make the maths right to calculate the margin, both the Cost and the Price must be EX GST or INCL GST. You cannot mix GST into the calculation.

Say the figures quoted here for a NEWSBAR (chocolate bar) are

Cost per unit: $2.44 + GST

RRP: $4.99 inc. GST. If this is a premium chocolate bar, $4.99 is a reasonable price.

So the cost to you is $2.44 + 10% = $2.684.

Margin = 1 - (2.684)/(4.99) = 46.2%

Now, this is, in theory, your margin. 

But margin often varies as it depends on you getting the supplier's price. There are a million reasons why you may have to sell at a different price in practice. However it is easy to find out the actual margin you are getting, but you need a computer to get it. 

Go to the menu

Now in sales, select the "Discounted Item Sales Summary."

Pick a period. I suggest the last 12 months and run. 

Here also pay particular attention to where you are discounting.

Sometimes, you want to add a special short note on the receipt message if you sell an item. Generally, they are promotional offers but sometimes special instructions on the item. These can be specially set to be added at the bottom of the receipt. 

In our point of sale, this is easy to do.

Call up the stock item in stock maintenance, see where the green arrow is, now press the box notes. In the note and add a "^" then add your message.

Every time this printer paper is sold, a promotional offer for your ink cartridges will be added if a receipt is printed.

You can, of course, be more creative if you think about it. Because your receipt is a business document doesn't mean it has to be dull. This receipt could be your last contact with a customer, so why not leave them with an enduring impact? 

Adding a creative message can be a game-changer for your marketing policy.

This tip works in many retail environments, so consider using it in your shop.

What happens is that we all end out with an item that is the last one, and we have decided for some reason not to get it in again. The problem is that this one item often takes up as much room as many items. So we usually have to keep it in that spot until it goes sweating that it will go before it gets too much out of date.

Well, why not make a collection for the last ones left. It does not need to be well presented in the pile as the bargain hunters are willing to work through it. It saves space and often moves the items immediately before we are often stuck with it.

Many industries do this; here is another example used by a card seller.

If you want a list of items in your shop that have only a few left, to get a feel of the size of the problem follow these steps.

Go to register reports > stock titled "Old Stock on hand by Date last received"

I tend to do it in two parts. I check the overall problem in the shop to see the scale of the problem. 

So now, look through the list to get an idea of the extent of the problem.

If you decide that idea is a goer, go back to the report and examine by department to action.

Then let me know how this tip goes for you?

Rapid COVID tests will be available from Nov 1. These tests kits act like the pregnancy stick sold now. What they allow people is to get almost instant results. This is a significant advantage as now people often need to wait three hours to get tested at a public test facility. I had to go at 8 am to have my daughter tested before they opened to get a spot.

Plus, if they get tested there, they are publically listed if they have COVID. Some people do not want that.

I expect it will be a good product here as US sales for these 15-minute tests is soaring, so why not here? One guy at work told me that he and his partner are soon going to a wedding, so he wants two to test themselves.

So why not check it out? The cheapest supply that I have found is here. I am not saying how good they are, as I do not know.

It is a shame that it took so long for this product to appear, as we could have used it when COVID first started here.

Once they get it, many people tend to review their debit and credit card statements. Partly what they are looking for is to see if it is correct. Everyone now has heard stories of fraudulent transactions, so we all look. In our case, our client's merchant name on the statement looked nothing like the trading name. 

So the customer queried the merchant with the bank. Soon my client got a please explain enquiry. 

This type of trouble was an unnecessary argument. 

In some cases, it can cost you time and possibly money.

So it is worthwhile examining what your customer gets on their debit and credit card statements about your business. See whether they are likely to be confused. This will help your customers better identify their transactions so they will not unintentionally dispute them. 

It is getting close to Christmas. This is a big job organised in the best of times, with this crisis with deliveries now so undependable....... Now everyone is saying that the big problems are operations and logistics. 

Looking at Google Trend, the public mood seems positive. Compared to Christmas last year and this, the results are almost unchanged.  The interest is there, alright.

Measured interest using Data Source: Google Trends (www.google.com/trends).

What happens this year is unclear, but that would be true of any year.

But I can assure you there will be no mass queues this year in the large department for the Christmas specials. Much of this trade will be in the local shops or online. Also, count on even a more extended Christmas season than last year.

Preparing for Christmas is much more than checking your roster, stock, and delivery.

Schedule some time to check your equipment. 

1) That all your POS equipment is working. If you intend to use some of the old POS computers to accommodate the rush period, give it a test run now?

2) Check that where they are going to be that the cables are working.

3) That the network works.

The closer it gets to Christmas, the harder it gets to repair in time.

Do your customers know that you are open for business? 

If you are open during this period, you need to make sure that people know about it. 

This became clear to one of my clients when he realised that many of his customers were walking past. They did not know they were open. Now he has a big OPEN sign in the front window. 

Passers-by need to know that you are open and when. 

If you are closed and intend to re-open, you need to tell them clearly when exactly you are opening up again. If you do not know then try to make it as clear as you can. 

Also, post regular updates on your social media.

Here is a tip, if you are going to make in your shop, a sale sign make sure that it is red. People have been trained to that red is the colour for sale signs. 

I saw a study a few days ago, which stated that the average person has on average 90 seconds to decide on a sign. After that, they are gone. And what they see first is not the message but the colour. Red attracts attention.

The next point is nake sure that there is a clear definition between the colours on the sign eg black, blue or red on white work well.

There is a whole science to this, click here for more details.