How do you implement a gift card program?

“How do you implement a gift card program?” is a thought that crosses the mind of many retail and restaurant businesses, both large and small. But where do you go from there? Actually launching a gift card takes some consideration to ensure that you have maximum opportunity for whatever the future brings. In fact, it’s even a consideration before you decide on your platform provider, because as your business expands there’s a whole world of gift card opportunity that you will not want to miss.

How do you implement a gift card program?

So before we get into the nuts and bolts (unless you just want to scroll down), let’s take a step back to remind ourselves why gift card is so important.

  • They are consistently the #1 requested gift for consumers. Rather than being a last-minute purchase, gift cards are the considerate gift that allow the recipient to purchase what they want. Everyone knows and loves gift cards.
  • They are increasing self-purchased by consumers that want to treat themselves or to budget their spending.
  • They encourage additional spend. Depending on the business, consumers typically spend 50%+ above the gift card value.
  • Gift cards attract new customers. Typically, the purchase involves two customers –the buyer and recipient – and they gift card funds can only be spent with your business. Gift cards introduce new customers, some of whom will be life-long customers.
  • Gift cards are the currency of your brand. They are billboards that represent actual revenue, rather than just clicks and likes.
  • Gift cards help with cashflow, as there is typically a lag between gift card purchase and redemption.
  • Gift cards can also be used for merchandise return/customer appeasement and promotions, all of which keep funds within your business and trigger additional customer spend.
  • OK, that’s probably enough, although there are additional advantages.

So, stepping forward again, “ How do you implement a gift card program?”. What do you need to consider?

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Testimonials

The Caffè Nero card really is a great success for us and we are delighted with the support we have had from day one with Savvy.

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Caffè Nero
Partnerships Manager

They (Savvy) designed and delivered a solution that was very light touch on Boots existing EPOS infrastructure and would have zero impact to Boots customers during the migration project.

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Boots UK
Gift Card Programme Manager

Their (Savvy) technology, commitment to our future roadmap, knowledge of the market and understanding of our current pain points made them the ideal choice.

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Pizza Express
Corporate Sales Manager

They (Savvy) have consistently demonstrated a customer focused approach and have given us the tools to meet key business objectives in terms of increasing customer acquisition and retention levels.

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Caffè Nero
Partnerships Manager

After undertaking a wide-reaching research project to find a new gift card processer we elected to go ahead and migrate our Zizzi and ASK Italian programs to Savvy. Little did we know at this stage the challenges external parties would present us with. The Savvy team, from top to bottom, offered continual support and impartial advice during a very stressful time over our peak sales and redemption period.

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Azzurri Group
Head of Partnerships

They (Savvy) delivered everything that we required within very tight deadlines without any issues and offered a level of support pre, during and post deployment that was unsurpassed.

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Pizza Express
Corporate Sales Manager

I have known and worked with them over the last five years and they are held in the highest regard by the retail partners they work with.

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Greene King
Gift Card Programme Manager

They have delivered to and exceeded our expectations, and we look forward to the increased commercial opportunities that their technology will enable for us.

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Boots UK
Gift Card Programme Manager
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