The secrets behind successful gift card programmes
What are the secrets behind successful gift card programmes? We all know that many retailers can generate a substantial profit from a programme, but asides from marketing, what are the secrets to a successful gift card programme?
As the company that helps retailers ‘connect the dots’ between loyalty, gifting, CRM and POS in a number of ways, we get the privilege to work with a wide range of clients in all retail sectors. We took a look through our portfolio to uncover some of the secrets of our clients’ successes.
The Secret: Adapting your modern tech into your older systems without delay
More recently gift cards have evolved even further serving as a ‘stepping stone’ to customer loyalty programs, and with reload functionality, gift cards can perform the double function of accumulating rewards and acting as a method of payment. As you can appreciate, one of the major challenges for the implementation of any gift card or loyalty programme can be found in store – making a common consumer experience at the point of sale. Typically, we see that retailers don’t always have a firm roll out plan for new tech and not every system is ready for an upgrade. Retailers needn’t be put off by thinking in such a linear fashion. In the case of our client Columbus Coffee, not all stores had upgraded to a PC-based POS system and many were still running the cash register-based system which did not have the facility for connectivity. For the upgraded stores, Tranxactor provided its ThorLink module that could be embedded in the point of sale devices to provide real-time connectivity with the host system. For the cash-register stores, Tranxactor developed a tablet-based 'mini-pos' that provided the necessary functions to replicate the integrated solution. The end result – all stores could go to market concurrently with the same offering!
The Secret: Offering one gift card platform to support multiple brands and stores
Over 40% of recipients are first time customers, so gift cards are strong customer acquisition tools. A disconnected experience can ruin the customer interaction, but can also spoil your data insights. If you have multiple brands, one customer could be just as easily suited to your other offerings. To tie together marketing, loyalty and gifting requires a smart system rather than siloed datasets. When we engaged with the James Pascoe Group, they needed to deliver multiple individual Gift Card Programmes for every brand under their umbrella, including their flagship Farmers Department Stores and the Pascoes the Jewellers. The rollout incorporated 8 retails brands with over 700 locations in Australia and New Zealand covering Jewellery, Watches, Apparel, Beauty, Homeware, Books, and Stationery. By using the Tranxactor platform, instead of each brand working solo, the solution comprised the establishment of an on-site HQ based instance of Thor; full integration with their retail point-of-sale systems; and progressive the implementation of Gift Cards for every brand in their retail network. The solution provided a common technical platform, centralised management, consolidated reporting, and centralised financial control while allowing the brands to market and support their Gift Cards is their own way. The outcome was a perfect solution for Management, Financial, IT and Infrastructure that has withstood the test of time over the past 12 years!
The Secret: Seamless behind the scenes reporting for improved marketing campaigns
Gift Card recipients are often new customers to your store, and as a bonus will typically spend over 50% more than the original value of their gift card. The problem is, without smart POS data capture, the knowledge of the customer journey is all but lost. The secret to a great programme is to access unrivalled reporting. For example, Tranxactor provides its Thor platform to deliver the Westfield NZ Gift Card Programme which operates online and throughout each Westfield shopping centre. As you can imagines, multiple stores with their own POS and till systems might not strike you as something that could be tied together easily to run one gift card programme. However, Tranxactor supplies the complete solution enabling over 1000 stores to accept the Westfield Gift Card as a method-of-payment. The end-to-end solution includes Tranxactor’s own KUPID Point-of-Sale system; the online e-commerce environment for the sale of Gift Cards to consumers; Corporate Order management portal; connectivity for all retail tenants via the EFTPOS networks; daily financial settlement across the retail base; and comprehensive liability and management reporting. By providing the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the tech, Westfield can rely on Tranxactor to provide full end to end financial settlement information, enabling the sale gift cards online or from any Westfield Centre and the redemption at any of their retail tenants nationwide.
These are just a few secrets to success when it comes to a gift card programme.
Technology should not be a ‘daunting challenge’ – it should be the enabler. We would be delighted to talk through your own challenges and how our solutions can help. Why not get in touch with us today?