VOUCHER TIPS TO BOOST YEAR-ROUND SALES
As the clocks go back, heralding the start of the winter season, our attentions turn to transitioning pro shops into festive gift havens. The build up to Christmas can be one of the busiest and most profitable times of the year for the retail industry and the key to success lies in both planning and adapting.
Over the next 2 months, your business could sell more gift vouchers than at any other time of year. Here, we explain how to maximise opportunities from your pro shop’s voucher scheme this season and reveal a fantastic new feature in the XPOS Caddie app that will give your revenue a welcome boost throughout the year.
BOTTOM-LINE BOOSTERS
Gift Vouchers are a well-known money-maker for retailers. With over 70% of recipients spending more of their own money on additional items when they come into your shop to redeem their vouchers, there are multiple opportunities for you to expand sales.
Gift cards, or vouchers, are also a fantastic way to reach NEW customers. When a club member buys a voucher for a friend of family member, that’s another first-time customer for your shop.
Furthermore, unlike discounts, or clearance sales that strip away the value of products, gift vouchers retain their value and encourage customers to come into the shop to use the card’s full amount.
Gift vouchers may be commonplace in the UK’s pro shops and generally seen as a great way to boost revenue for small businesses. However, despite the positives, not everyone makes the most of them, says retail expert Mark Hopkins. “The bottom line is that gift vouchers are a fantastic way to help small businesses largely because they put money in the bank now, which is then paid back slowly when customers come into redeem them,” says Mark.
“Some retailers see them as old-fashioned but vouchers are a great way to capture customer cash and lock them in. They’re also good for building loyalty as people have to come into your shop to use them, so they’ll be keeping an eye on your product ranges”.
Tony Mealing is Head PGA Pro at The Kendleshire Golf Club and insists gift vouchers are an integral part of his sales strategy and a great for driving footfall. “When people don’t know what to buy for a golfer friend, or family member, gift vouchers always go down well”.
INVALUABLE VOUCHERS
When it comes to golf shops that allow customers to keep accounts with the business, this can have its own pitfalls if debts aren’t paid off. Vouchers offer a safer way to get cash up front without the risk of debt. Just remember that vouchers should always have an expiry date to close that money off so it’s guaranteed to be spent within a fixed time frame.
“Having thousands of pounds of money tied up in vouchers is may seem like a great thing”, says Mark, “but the key, as always, is to ensure that those vouchers are rotating and people are coming into the shop to use them, that’s when you know you’ve got the right product for your customer base.”.
NEW VOUCHER FEATURE FOR XPOS CUSTOMERS
These days, we’ve moved on and gift vouchers don’t have to be paper. For those retailers who still think they’re somewhat ‘archaic’, well, we’ve got news for you!
This month, we’re helping our retailers to take their voucher schemes into the 21st Century with a fantastic new feature in the XPOS Caddie app.
Coming very soon, your golfers will be able to purchase gift vouchers via the app and email them directly to absolutely anyone, and they can include a personalised message. What’s more, recipients don’t need to be existing shop customers, or members of your club, so this is yet another great way to attract those first-time shoppers.
Signing up your pro shop to the new gift voucher feature is easy. Simply let us know. We’ll show you how to add the payment solution to the XPOS Caddie app and we can add the Buy Voucher button to your shop’s app on your behalf.
Although the build-up to the festive period is the perfect time to launch this great new benefit for your golfers to enjoy, remember, the XPOS Caddie app works for your business 365 days of the year. And isn’t just for Christmas.