When talking about spa revenue, gift cards are an important part of the conversation. Book4Time’s Krista Foulis shares tips on how to maximize spa gift card revenue.
By Krista Foulis,
Customer Success Director at Book4Time
When talking about spa revenue, gift cards (or gift certificates) are an important part of the conversation. Spa gift cards are a thoughtful and highly desired gift. They are an excellent way to increase revenue and, as we head into the holiday season, spas should be ramping up to capture as much revenue as possible and focusing on this area.
Gift cards can also increase brand awareness, and help attract new customers and retain existing ones.
As we head into the holiday season, let’s look at why spas should be giving special consideration to gift cards sales and how to easily optimize their revenue generating capabilities.
The revenue possibilities of gift cards. Some statistics (source):
People want to both give and receive gift cards. Let’s look at some statistics:
- 93% of Americans have given a gift card at some point in their lives (Source: Moola).
- Gift cards have been the most requested gift during the holiday season for 10 years in a row.
- 35% of shoppers’ holiday budgets is spent on gift cards.
- US$3billion in gift cards went unused in 2019 (This is called “breakage” in the gift card industry and it can be a profitable “side effect” of a gift card program).
- Digital gift card sales, largely driven by Millennials and Gen Z, are projected to hit $698.2 billion by 2024.
- 72% of shoppers spend more than the value of a gift card.
- 63% of people would prefer to receive an experience gift over a material gift for the holidays. (A spa gift card fits that description perfectly.)
How to sell gift cards: make them available online
Selling gift cards online is much more cost effective than selling them in store.
As a former spa director at Park Hyatt Toronto, I have a fair amount of experience in this area. Before implementing online gift card sales, we would hire extra people just to sell gift certificates during the holiday season. Once we started selling the cards online that cost was cut in half.
So, for example, five people making $15 an hour over six weeks is a cost of $18,000.
On top of that, online cards don’t need to be handwritten, boxed, bagged, or wrapped with a pretty bow. There is a cost of packaging the hand-written certificates, which is usually between $3-$5, or between $7,500 – $12,500 per $500,000 of cards sold.
Selling gift cards online saves time and cuts costs. It also allows people to purchase cards from anywhere and at any time. If someone decides to do their holiday shopping and goes looking for an online gift card, they’re very likely to purchase one from the business that has them available, rather than wait for business hours and physically go to buy one in person. This means that, if you don’t make them available, they will go elsewhere.
Promote your gift cards
It’s easy to treat gift cards as an afterthought that can bring in a bit of passive income when in reality they have the power to be a powerful revenue stream. Make sure that people know you have gift cards available for purchase online. Share this information through all available channels.
Train your staff to talk to clients about your cards without being too sales focused. Make it a part of the organic conversation. As we move into the holiday season, your team members can ask guests if they have started their shopping, and mention that there are gift cards and that it’s easy to buy them online.
Promote them in your messaging. Include a link to your gift cards to your email appointment confirmations and receipts. Send out a marketing blast email to let people know they are available. If your spa is in a hotel or resort, place QR codes in visible places around the property. Place them prominently on your website and post about them on your social media pages.
Get the word out and your efforts will be rewarded.
Gift cards are an important revenue stream. Optimize it.
For more on optimizing your gift card strategy, watch episode 4 in the Spa Leader Masterclass series on “Improving your spa’s gift card sales & revenue” featuring Winnie Tang, Director of Business Development at Givex, and Krista Foulis. Find it HERE.