The holiday season is generally a welcome time of increased sales and foot traffic for truck accessory stores, speed shops and other retailers. What if we told you there was a simple way to get even more out of the critical shopping months of November and December—and even the dreaded two-month sales slump that typically follows? The answer is gift certificates … with a twist.
Gift certificates have become a favorite for shoppers who are overwhelmed by hectic holiday seasons or who want to give a gift but don’t know what to choose. In the world of automotive aftermarket accessories, we can take for granted that our customers know exactly what they want. But what about family members or friends who want to give a gift to an enthusiast but have no idea where to begin, what that person already owns, or what they are working toward? Gift certificates solve that problem entirely, letting the recipient come in to use the money on exactly what they want. It’s like printing the perfect gift. Most importantly, it lets someone spend money with you instead of walking out because they don’t know what to buy. All that said, selling a gift certificate in December is great for December, but it doesn’t really help in January and February. Or does it?
Enter Bonus Bucks. This concept involves assigning a percentage to gift certificate sales (or any sale, for that matter!) and then rewarding the shopper with dollars to spend equal to that percentage of their purchase. The percentage is up to you, though 5%-10% is the most common.
For example, in December you announce you are awarding 5% in Bonus Bucks on purchases made that month. At that percentage, a customer who spends, let’s say, $100 also gets $5 in Bonus Bucks (or Diesel Dollars or Turbo Cash or whatever creative name you come up with). The catch is that the Bonus Bucks can be spent only in the time frame you establish, say January through February of the following year. The idea is to incentivize recipients of products or gift certificates to come back in to use their Bonus Bucks and make extra purchases when they otherwise wouldn’t. Sure, some people will always try to find a way to use just that amount of money. But many others—including your best existing customers and other enthusiasts who might not have shopped with you before and who are ripe to become regulars—will come in and find lots of things just begging for their money. You’ll make some extra sales in what is traditionally the slowest time of the year, and they will come away feeling like they’ve just gotten a deal on an item or future experience they are sure to enjoy.
You could go through the trouble of printing physical Bonus Bucks. Or you could use the built-in Gift Certificate generator that comes standard with your Aftermarket Websites® service. You can create standard gift certificates that use your usual terms or make “Bonus Bucks” versions that have the more limited terms we talked about above. Aftermarket Websites® also lets you generate coupon codes for year-round sales and marketing, all right from your Dashboard. We hope this article helped spark a little creativity for you this holiday season.
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