Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

I recently opened a broadcast email from a consignment shop owner which offered a deal. She wrote:

“buy a $100.00 Gift Card for $90.00!”

Now, think about this. A holiday gift-giver has decided that she’ll purchase a $100 gift certificate for her mother, daughter, employee or friend. You tell her she can have it, and KEEP $10.

As opposed to an offer like

“buy a $100.00 Gift Card & we’ll give you $10.00 in MyStore Bucks for yourself!”

Now what’s the difference in these two offers?

Obviously,

your store rings up $10 more with each purchase. Always a good idea.

But most importantly, the gift-giver feels like she’s getting something for herself, and for free.

One for you… and a little one for me!

That’s a lot more motivating, inviting, fun than spending that $90. So the person who sees the offer of this bonus is way more likely to actually buy it.

And the $10 store bucks, which are redeemable, perhaps, December 26-January 31 2018 will motivate her to come in and shop during your January lull. Who knows? With that $10 to spend on herself, she might even bring the recipient of the gift card and a couple of friends, in to shop too. Make it a fun outing to their new favorite place. (And maybe she’ll buy something end-of-season, store-owned, thus keeping your COG close to zero for that bonus $10…)

Heck, if you have her contact info, you could even be so kind as to personally remind her in mid-January to come in… or even, invite her to come in the evening before your big end-of-January clearance sale. Wouldn’t that make her think of your shop fondly in the future?

Whereas that $10 she “saved” with the first offer? Gone, flown, spent somewhere else and your shop got no profit, no benefit, and no image-polishing out of it.