Birthdays, festivities, promotions; all of these have one thing in common, they all call for a gift. Choosing the perfect gift for the child, teenager, businessperson, or homemaker may prove to be a difficult chore for many people. This is why people now resort to gifting with gift certificates. There are some companies offering gift certificates; while there are many other companies that still do not have their own gift certificates.
This is where you can find an avenue of generating some income for yourself. You could offer companies without gift certificates their own gift certificates for selling. In the process, you could charge a 10 – 25% commission on the sale of these gift certificates. To make things easier for the company whose certificates you will be providing, you could also handle all the sales of gift certificates for them. Do not worry; you do not have much competition here. But the need is certainly there!
It is not necessary to offer only merchandise the store sells with gift certificates. Design some novel ideas like a balloon ride, a honeymoon suite stay for three days or perhaps a go at bungee jumping! The sky is the limit; just think of what people would enjoy doing on a holiday, and offer them these choices in the form of gift certificates distributed to clients. The main necessity for this business is a printing company that will print these gift certificates for you and of course some advertisement. Place some advertisements on the internet, in magazines and newspapers of your services. You are sure to get some calls from storeowners and managers.
Some businesses also need gift certificates to present to their employees instead of giving them cash bonuses. Employees will tend to enjoy a holiday in a ski resort or theme park much more than any money you may offer them. Moreover, with a gift certificate, the recipient is sure to remember the person who had presented them with it, better than with money that is gifted them.
You could suggest the store eliminate printing any expiration dates for the gift certificates. This is because there are many people who may save the gift certificate to use for special occasions. If these gift certificates expire then no one is going to enjoy the certificate!
When offering your services, you could offer an easy, hassle free 24 hour a day ordering facility for your clients. This way, you will have increased customers. Providing free service is another incentive for people to hire you for your services.
Instead of printing only gift certificates, print festive gift envelopes or elegant gift box to make your gift certificates more attractive. Include a list of the merchants' stores where these certificates are accepted. Instead of offering money gift certificates of a single denomination, offer a variety of denominations for your clients to choose from.
This could be a fast growing and rewarding business all in one.
Helpful resources:
http://www.certifichecks.com/
http://www.giftango.com/gift-certificate-templates.asp
http://www.datamanage.com/GiftCert/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Business-Gift-Certificates—How-to-Create-Your-Own&id=534099
http://www.nebs.com/nebsEcat/ValidatePromoServlet?mailCode=88187&path=products/subcategory.jsp?key1=MAJ-RETAIL&key2=RETSUPPLY&key3=GIFCERT&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=47854386
December 2, 2008
