Find Start-Up Capital The Old Fashioned Way – Print It Yourself

Every pet related business should consider offering gift certificates to help expand their customer base.

While gift certificates contribute to only a small portion of overall sales for most pet related businesses, they may pay dividends for years to come because they help lure new customers and keep existing customers coming back for more.

“They are money right back in your pocket,” says Michelle Broaderson, the owner of BoneMaMa, a specialty dog treat bakery in Mill Creek, Wa. – with an interesting start-up story.

Broaderson used gift certificates creatively to fund the start-up of her new venture. “Instead of begging banks or family for start-up funding, I used $50 of my savings to bake several batches of tasty treats and used them as an enticement to get everyone I knew to purchase gift certificates that I printed on my computer. It was a great way to generate the $1,500 I needed to fully stock my kitchen and purchase the supplies needed to get up and rolling. Those initial gift certificate holders have stayed with me…”

Why Offer Gift Certificates?

Customers come into retail shops seeking gift certificates and their higher-tech sibling, gift cards, for a variety of reasons. First of all, they are an easy gift for any pet lover.

“The bottom line is that giving one is easy, and you can’t really make a mistake buying one,” Broaderson says.

“It’s also a gift that can be large or small because they can be given in any amount from $5 to $500,” she says.

“We don’t put an expiration date on them and they can be used either online or at any of our retail locations,” says Tawnia Zannger, a partner at Bow-Wow Bakery, a baker in Palm Springs.

Second, recipients enjoy receiving them as much as people love to give them.

“Everyone is always happy when they present a gift card,” says Jennifer Grant, owner of Something to Chew On, a retail shop in Laguna Niguel, Calif. “They buy whatever tickles their fancy.”

“Most customers use gift cards to buy items to spoil their pets instead of buying essentials, such as food or other practical purchases,” Zannger says.

Many of Grant’s clients who buy gift cards aren’t even pet owners themselves.

“Their friend or their clients love their dogs but they have no idea what to get them,” Grant says.

Offering gift certificates is another form of advertising in the community, says Stew Boots, owner of PetPourri, a baker/retailer in Dublin, Tx. “A lot of people come in and say, ‘I never knew you were here.’”

While sales of certificates may only contribute to a small percentage of overall sales, Boots and other baker/retailers wouldn’t consider dropping them from their inventory.

“Gift certificates are only 1 percent or 2 percent of my overall sales for the year,” Boots says. “But we try to be a full-service retail store and bakery, and gift certificates are just one more thing that customers want, so we carry them.”

Grant agrees that these products should be seen as an added service that builds your business over time.

“I really feel that being a small boutique bakery is about building a relationship with the customer,” she says. “There are a lot of things that I do that are a lot of work, but it increases the customers’ commitment to me.”

Grant has seen sales of gift cards increase by 50 percent since her store opened two years ago, without her putting much effort into promoting them.

“Sales started out slowly, but have increased over time,” she says.

She has recently put a counter mat down near the register to alert customers that she carries gift cards.

“I expect it will increase even more now that it will be right there in their faces,” Grant says.

Dangling laminated gift certificates on a ribbon from the store’s ceiling has drawn a lot of attention for Boots.

“We mostly do in-store promotions of our gift certificates,” he says.

Advertising gift certificates on your store’s website may also remind customers to purchase them year-round for special occasions and holidays, Zannger says.

The majority of gift certificates redeemed in Broaderson’s shop are issued to charities that come to her seeking donations, she says.

“The certificate either goes to a new customer who then becomes a customer for the remainder of the time or it’s used by a returning customer who spends more than what the gift certificate is worth,” Broaderson says.

-Doug Bertram