Carlin, Mary (2007, April). The New Plastic. Retrieved April
29, 2007 from , Web site:
https://mycourses.udel.edu/SCRIPT/HRIM450_050_07S/scripts/student/serve_page.pl/HRIM450_050_07S/assignments/blog_assignment.htm?1156632400+1159553298+OFF+resources.htm+
The article “The New Plastic” talks about the top ten trends in gift cards and what to look for in the future of the gift card industry in restaurants. Web sales is number one, online sales will take pressure off onsite staff and will save them time. Multi unit companies can have one card for all the types of restaurants they run. So if Darden had gift cards they would be able to sell them for Red Lobster as well as Olive Garden. Multiple uses for these cards can help you track where the gift card are selling the most. If you had cards for the restaurant for food or for the bar where you can only get drinks with the card. Fourth is the staff incentive, instead of giving your employees money to spend somewhere else giving them a gift card to get things at your restaurant. Fifth is the special offers, with these special offers people will be able to see that they are saving money by buying a card for $90 when you get $100 in products. Personalization is the sixth trend, companies are able to personalize the front of card for holidays or birthday and a cheaper thing is using sleeves and having the standard design on the card. Leaving fees is taking money out for every month that they do not use the card; this is illegal in some states. Some card can include data of the person that bought the card kind of like a loyalty program. Cards are controlled from a different location to avoid problems with damage and theft. Biometrics will be replacing card and will store data or customers and their habits.
I feel that gift cards are not the new rage, but maybe in the restaurant industry they are starting to become known. Starbucks has been doing it for years as well as other small quick stop places. But recently the fast food and the casual dining industry has started using gift cards. I like the idea because it brings in revenue even if people don’t use it. As far as improving on gift cards I think the article has it right in that offer specials will bring people back. Offering employees card will show that they want them to enjoy their place of work when they are not working, employees may also give the card to a friend as a gift. The biometrics I feel will not work because people buy card for other people as gifts they usually don’t get it for themselves and I don’t see how that will work. The fees that the companies put on the cards is a scam that makes the company look cheap and the loyalty program will not work either because people don’t use the cards for themselves. Having multiple cards for different parts of the restaurant is a good idea because it will help control what customers can get and at what times.
2 comments:
In the article that Nicholas read several trends are highlighted about gift cards. As Nicholas states in his reflection some of the trends I agree with and others I find rather far fetched. For example, as a perk for customers lots of restaurants are offering savings when gift cards are purchased especially if the gift card is of a high value, like selling a $100 gift card for $90. I feel that this is a big incentive that not every company can offer, but the ones that can and do are able to broaden their customer base. I disagree with the article in the aspect of using biometrics to replace the physical card itself. The problem with using biometrics is gift cards are usually bought and given away; biometrics would require having the recipient present at the time of purchase which is unrealistic.
I agree with the article and the reflection as well. You bring up some in regards to the biometrics and the loyalty program. When gift cards are purchased, restaurants know nothing about who it is going to, just who purchased it. This is useless information when planning for the future. I think that a simple plan such as a pin number could replace the idea of biometrics. When someone buys a card they may choose a four digit pin that has to be provided when card is being used by the gift recipient. Yes this could cause some confusion if the gift recipient forgets the pin, but is still better than biometrics. I do like the general idea of gift cards. Most restaurants can afford to present deals where customers receive more product than what they pay for (pay $90 and get $100 worth of products). This is true because there are a lot of people that receive these gift cards from friends and for whatever reason never actually spend them. That is great for the restaurant because they made the money up front and did not have to provide anything for it.
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