During the tough pandemic times, when many eCommerce stores stood on the verge of falling apart, gift cards became their hope in the dark.  In the midst of lockdowns across the country and supply-chain issues that made physical gifts hard to come by, digital gift cards became a pandemic staple. Today, almost all eCommerce retailers provide gift cards to acquire new customers while retaining loyal ones. These prove to be extremely effective marketing tools for all eCommerce businesses.

The value of digital gift cards has been proven time and time again. The seamless convenience, choice potential, purchasing flexibility, and versatility make them a go-to idea for all consumers. As online shopping and global e-commerce stores continue to reshape retail marketing, digital offerings propel the popularity of gift card programs.

What are Gift Cards?

A gift card or a gift voucher is a kind of prepaid stored-value money card issued by a retailer as an alternative to cash, to make purchases from the brand itself. In simple terms, if you share with someone a gift card worth $100 from brand ABC, then they can use it to purchase any product from that respective brand worth the given amount.

The demand for digital gift cards has been growing dramatically since the pandemic. Apart from making gifting easier for customers, gift cards also assure building brand image and help in earning more users for business.

Let’s dive in to know – the simple yet powerful benefits of using digital gift cards for your eCommerce business!

Benefits of Selling Gift Cards on Your eCommerce Store

The stats and survey reports from mageplaza have emphasized that the global market size for gift cards is expected to rise to $510(billion dollars) by 2025. The reason is – these are not limited to sales during the festive and holiday seasons; rather they are in demand all around the year during birthdays, anniversaries, or any other special occasion.

While thinking about a gift might take time, purchasing gift cards is quite compelling as they are cost-effective, time-saving, and provide ample benefits to a brand as well. Here’s how:

1. As a Sales Booster

Gift cards are the eCommerce solutions that every user wants to avail themselves of. Although these are set to a specific amount, many customers end up spending more. Gift cards not only encourage customers to browse through the store but also act as a sales magnet. Once a person receives a gift card for a particular eCommerce store, they are likely to shop for a product even if it costs slightly more than the gift card value.

2. Builds Brand Awareness & Brand Value

Many stores offer gift cards as a part of their pre-launch strategy, to build the buzz around their products, brand, or services. With digital gift cards having your company’s logo and brand, they essentially work as a marketing tool in customers’ pockets. Moreover, the gift cards purchased by your customers depict their love towards your store that they’re willing to share with their loved ones. This adds up to your brand value and builds brand identity.

3. Sell Anytime & Anywhere

You can sell gift cards directly on your eCommerce store and direct people to make a purchase. These can be shared over emails or different messaging platforms implying that your customers can send and receive them from any place.

4. Attract New Customers

Gift cards are the lead magnets that attract new eyes, i.e. more and more new customers. When your customers purchase digital gift cards for others, they introduce your store to a new audience that might later turn into loyal customers. This encourages people who might not otherwise visit your eCommerce store, resulting in future returns to make additional purchases.

5. Builds Customer Trust & Loyalty

Having customers who trust your brand and are loyal, is a blessing. A digital gift card initiative is also a customer loyalty program adopted by major eCommerce stores today. This robust gifting method builds customers’ trust in your brand and attracts new people by word of mouth.

6. Reduced Fraud Rates

The use of digital gift cards allows partial redemption, leaving the leftover balance stored on the gift card and eliminating cash backs. You can use them for storing credit and reducing fraud that occurs when customers try to make expired returns for cash. Additionally, issuing gift cards as an alternative to cash encourages more sales.

7. Digital Gift Cards are Secure

Unlike physical gift cards or conventional paper that can be stolen or lost, digital gift cards are much more convenient and secure. You can send and receive them digitally without any hassle while keeping the amount safe for a longer time.

Selling Digital Gift Cards For Maximum Benefit

A digital gift card is one of the easiest solutions through which you can make money. We already know about the benefits of including gift cards on your eCommerce platform. Well, the question is – what is the right way of selling digital gift cards in your online store?

Here’s how you should incorporate gift cards in your online store to reap the true benefits:

• Upsell with digital gift cards: Gift cards are the best program for retailers when it comes to introducing upsell. While providing upsell on your store, you can channel the complete purchase by incorporating a gift card at the end of the cycle.

• Pricing gift cards same as the product: Give customers the freedom to buy gift cards like the normal products in the store. Furthermore, you can personalize them as per the occasions (i.e. Independence Day, Halloween, Cyber Monday, etc.)

• Customize & Personalize: Digital gift cards mostly get purchased based on their looks and design. Giving the choice to customers to personalize their gift cards, add messages, etc. increases their interest. You can include different templates and styles to match your brand theme as well.

Using Gift Cards with Shopify POS

Gift cards allow your customers to share the love they have for your brand with their loved ones. Shopify POS allows you to sell and redeem gift cards both offline and online. You can activate the gift card feature on your Shopify store. This will add them to the product list automatically, and you can then sell them in person using Shopify POS. With Shopify POS, you can sell gift cards in any of these formats:

• Physical gift card
• An online gift card that you email to the customer
• Paper copy that you print from your receipt printer

Customers can easily redeem their gift cards on any of your sales channels that use Shopify’s checkout tools.

Scale-up Your Sales With Gift Cards!

The growth of gift cards in the eCommerce market has been remarkable in the past few years and is expected to rise in the future. No matter what the size and scope of your business are, a gift card program is easy and affordable to implement and beneficial in the long run. This simple yet powerful marketing tool increases both your brand awareness and revenue.

Shopify allows you to add gift cards to your online stores in order to attract new customers and retain old ones. You can use Govalo to send customized gift cards, directly to the recipient, while keeping track of the gift card analytics.