As the holidays closes in, retail businesses across the globe are capitalizing on the season of giving with sales, and increased foot traffic. While micro markets are not top-of-mind for most gift-givers, products sold in micro markets can be most practical. After all, most micro markets are found in either the workplace or while on travel. This means once the holidays are over, thousands of people will return to work to restore their budgets and balances back to pre-gifting glory after a season of hefty gifting. What better gift to give a loved-one than one they can use at any time—eGift cards?
365 Retail Markets’ eGift cards are a source of value that can be distributed to consumers to leverage in an operator’s micro market to purchase available products. This exciting capability assists operators in rewarding consumers. With eGift cards, consumers can redeem the gift card value through a one-time purchase, or they can fund their existing GMA accounts.
365 eGift Card Types
365’s eGift cards come in two forms. Each one has a different level of convenience for a tailored experience within a given micro market. After creating the initial card and assigning it a value on the Consumer Engagement page of 365’s backend system, ADM, operators then indicate which form their gift cards will take. The two forms are:
- Tangible Cards:
ADM features a gift card design operators can print for physical distribution. Upon selecting the print option after initiating a gift card record, ADM prompts an FSO to identify the desired quantity of cards and even empowers the user to leave a personalized note or message. After customizing the message, ADM produces a PDF file that FSOs can print and supply to their clients or directly to consumers.
- Digital Cards:
to send gift cards via email, the recipient, or consumer, must have an email on their GMA account. FSOs can either search emails for the consumers to whom they will award the eGift cards, or they can type in or upload a list of recipient emails. The specified email recipients will receive an email with a unique QR code that any 365 point of sale scanner can scan as a form of payment.
Consumer Experience
Consumers who have received either a tangible or digital card can use them no differently than other forms of payment. If consumers prefer to make one-time-purchases with the gift card, they simply scan the tangible card or QR code to apply its value to their total purchase amount. If the funds do not cover the entire purchase, then consumers can use another payment method to cover the remaining balance. Likewise, if consumers want to add the gift card funds to their existing global market account, then they simply log in and use the gift card to add that full value to their account for immediate availability.
eGift Card Reporting
365’s eGift cards offer a clear consumer benefit, but the feature also offers FSOs operational perks. Operators interested in understanding how the eGift card feature impacts their market can do so with ease. 365 Retail Markets has created a report specific to eGift cards in ADM. These reports detail when gift cards are created as well as when and how consumers use them.
There are two ADM reports related to gift cards:
- eGift Card Creation:
This report will detail every time that a gift card has records issued or printed. This will help operators to know how many gift cards their markets have generated to understand any potential liabilities and reconcile any gift card fees.
- eGift Card Usage:
This report will detail every time that a consumer uses a gift card, whether for a one-time transaction or for funding a GMA. This will help operators learn how and when consumers are redeeming gift cards and how to reconcile any credits.
eGift Card Use Cases:
Upon reviewing the eGift card reports to better understand how they impact a specific market, operators can begin to make strong decisions for which use case works best for each of their markets. There are three cases that 365 Retail Markets recommends:
- Grand Openings: As operators open new markets in locations where consumers are unfamiliar with micro markets, providing users with gift cards helps reduce initial low sales statistics by incentivizing purchases with gift cards.
- Employee Incentives: Some FSOs might benefit from selling the gift cards to the client host and encouraging them to distribute them as part of an employee incentive program. This incentivizes purchases within a given market and empowers FSO’s clients to reward certain occupational behaviors they promote.
- Random Rewards: Operators can also offer gift cards to individuals during special milestones such as birthdays, or after a certain number of purchases to mimic a loyalty rewards program often seen in traditional markets or surprise give aways. This method can also be used to re-engage those who have not visited your market in a while.
With 365 eGift cards, FSO’s can reward consumers for frequent purchases, celebrate, the holidays and consumer birthdays, strengthen their relationship with clients, and ultimately, increase sales. ADM by 365 provides the most easy-to-use solution for managing and incentivizing micro markets—thereby increasing an FSO’s competitive advantage against their industry peers in the eyes of their clients and consumers.
