Tara Sparshu’s Post

Americans are expected to spend nearly $30 billion on gift cards this holiday season. Restaurant gift cards are the most popular, making up one-third of those sales. But what happens to the money when a gift card goes unused? It depends on the state where the retailer is incorporated. In some states, retailers must work with unclaimed property programs to return money from unspent gift cards to consumers. Make sure to use those gift cards before they expire. #GiftCards #HolidayShopping #Retail #UnclaimedProperty https://brev.is/e75r7

Tip #4 of #SmallBusinessWeek is here, and it's all about shopping locally! Today, we encourage everyone in Plano to step out and support our local businesses. Whether it’s grabbing a coffee, shopping for groceries, enjoying a meal, or updating your wardrobe, choose local! 📍 How to Participate: 1. Visit a local coffee shop for your morning brew. 2. Pick up ingredients for dinner at a local grocery store. 3. Enjoy lunch or dinner out at a neighborhood restaurant. 4. Treat yourself or a loved one with something from a local clothing store or purchase a gift card. Every dollar you spend locally is an investment in our community. Let’s make it a day to remember and show just how powerful our support can be! 👉 Share your local shopping experiences and tag the businesses to give them a shoutout. Use #ShopLocalShopPlano to join the community conversation! #SupportLocal #PlanoProud #ShopSmall

Day 4 of #SmallBusinessWeek is here, and it's all about shopping locally! Today, we encourage everyone in Plano to step out and support our local businesses. Whether it’s grabbing a coffee, shopping for groceries, enjoying a meal, or updating your wardrobe, choose local! 📍 How to Participate: 1. Visit a local coffee shop for your morning brew. 2. Pick up ingredients for dinner at a local grocery store. 3. Enjoy lunch or dinner out at a neighborhood restaurant. 4. Treat yourself or a loved one with something from a local clothing store or purchase a gift card. Every dollar you spend locally is an investment in our community. Let’s make it a day to remember and show just how powerful our support can be! 👉 Share your local shopping experiences and tag the businesses to give them a shoutout. Use #ShopLocalShopPlano to join the community conversation! #SupportLocal #PlanoProud #ShopSmall

I live about 2 hours drive away from my Mum which means when we do spend time together it is regularly in Borough Market dining at Elliot's or sipping wine in one of the many wonderful arches. 🍷 These experiences last a lifetime, unlike those flowers that will wilt, or the chocolate that will last all of 2 minutes! And this year Toggle is predicting a whopping 177% surge in gift card sales for #mothersday. Operators offering gift cards with added-value promotions like ‘£10 off when you spend £30’ are seeing a 533% increase in total spend from the original redemption value. A win-win i'm sure every business wants! 🎉 So whether it's an Afternoon Tea, a Spa Day, a perfect 'Sunday Lunch for Two', or simply a gift card promotion this Mother's Day, Toggle's advice is to make sure your customers, your passers-by, and your future customers know about it! 💌 #giftcards #marketing #hospitality

It was my mom’s birthday last week. And if I were there… …I would take her out for coffee. Especially since this is her first birthday since Dad passed. They were together for 40 years. But that’s not what this post is about. I wanted to surprise her with a gift card to her favorite coffee joint. They have a website and a clickable link to purchase (and refill) gift cards. Unfortunately, the link was down so I reached out via message. No response. Of course, my next step would be to call…but I stopped and thought about that potential interaction. What if I call and they’re busy? What if the barista is unaware of the online gift card process? Instead of chasing the business, I decided to send cash instead. I shared my experience with her, and I’m sure she’ll share it as well. Maybe it’s my customer service background, or maybe it’s the love we gave local businesses during the pandemic… But I’m always blown away by the lack of good customer service. Sure we all make mistakes. But to make the customer journey cumbersome is a mistake no business should make. Maybe the customer will call you when other contact methods fail… …maybe they won’t. Maybe Mom will use the funds I sent to buy your coffee… …maybe she won’t. #customerservice #coffee #copywriting #customerjourney

True life: I still read a paper copy of Kiplinger monthly I read the December 2023 installment and was reminded of a quick way to come up with extra cash - don't forget about gift cards! 💼 Have you checked your gift card balances recently? ☕ According to many sources Starbucks has ~$1 billion, yes with a B, in unredeemed gift cards. I rarely go to Starbucks, but I visited a shop in December and found I had $1.08 left on my card. It's probably been sitting there for years, not earning interest and losing value. I spent it and rather than put more money on my card used a credit card for the remaining purchase. Why am I giving Starbucks an interest-free loan? 5️⃣ Can you take 5 minutes today to check your phone apps, your wallet, and that random drawer in your home where you put physical gift cards? Here is what I found: 🛍 $50 Saks Gift Card - Amex Platinum cardholders IYKYK 👀 🛎 $1.31 Taco Bell app 👗 $14.53 ThredUp credit - not a gift card, but similar 🥗 $7 GrubHub credit I received when my order was late What did you find? Share in the comments below on how you will find "lost money" today ⬇ #nospendchallenge #budgeting #financialinclusion

60k customers unknowingly buy coffee from this 47-y old bank per week, making them worth $12 billion right under their nose. Including YOU. Here's how: The bank is Starbucks, whose 41% of revenue comes from gift card sales alone. Starbucks reported $1.77 billion stored in unredeemed gift cards, up 9% from the previous year. So, how does this billion-dollar system work? They've used this flywheel method concept with their gift card strategy:   1. It’s a co-worker's birthday or anniversary. You stop by Starbucks and pick them up a $25 gift card. But because you're in there, you also grab something for yourself. A $25 sale becomes a $35 sale.   2. Gift Card Spend: Your co-worker uses the $25 gift card over a few visits. But because no one spends exactly the amount on their card, they end up getting an extra item and spend an additional $5. 3. Starbucks knows that some gift cards will never be spent, and they plan for it. Like the $1.77 billion they've right now from unused cards. The company makes $155 million in pure profit from these unused cards.   4. When you buy a Starbucks gift card, you give Starbucks money without getting anything in return immediately. This is similar to how you give money to a bank. Starbucks can invest this money and receive interest, just like a bank does.   The lifecycle of a $25 gift card can bring as much as $45 to Starbucks. This clever use of the gift card flywheel has allowed Starbucks to do more revenue than McDonald's. With 33,000 stores in 76 countries, they pulled in a revenue of $9.11 billion in Q3 2024 alone. How crazzyy is that?    The next largest gift card programs from Gamestop and AMC account for 15% and 10% of sales, respectively. Starbucks has taken the concept of gift cards and turned it into a core part of its business strategy, creating a banking system disguised as a coffee shop.   So the next time you load your Starbucks Card, remember: you’re not just buying coffee; you’re contributing to one of the most ingenious financial strategies in the corporate world.   Follow Raj Gupta for more billion-dollar business strategies! 🔰P.S. The folks below aren't random customers. They're the founders - Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Zev Siegl.

After a year of taking my kids to Home Depot's free craft workshops, their "long con" finally revealed itself. The craft for June, the month that happens to contain Father's Day? A BBQ-shaped gift card box holder. That's how they get ya... I'm kidding, of course. Home Depot's workshops are terrific and my kids love them. And yes, they get us into the store and, about half the time, we end up buying something - on top of many other purchases outside of those first Saturdays of every month. So I can live with being "long-conned" as long as Home Depot keeps delivering value to my family. Have you checked out Home Depot's craft workshop or a similar "get-em-in-the-door" program? (Not pictured: My throbbing finger from getting whacked with a 🔨.)

anyone in the restaurant business (or many other verticals in small business)... if you didn't kill it in 2023 with your gift card sales and digital offers, I've got something for you. I have successfully built and monetized a fairly substantial email list, especially focused at the appropriate time to sell gift cards. It's far from impossible to figure that your small restaurant could generate $3-12,000 with a short campaign. what does that do for you? Lots of front loaded cash flow today, and a dribble of redemption over the next couple months. It's ALMOST like magic. Dive into our community and lears simple and measurable tactics that not only get you moving in the right direction, but generating sales while you're sleeping. I know what I'm talking about, been in the game over 30 years. Opt in below and get our latest case study on how we launched our last sale, and generated over $16,000 in 7 days. (no b.s., happy to share proof) Thanks for sharing, look forward to connecting on the other side. Tony Marciante

Me: I need to buy all of these food items, some of which need to be weighed, plus a gift card that needs to be activated, I have coupons, I need to enter in a loyalty code, I have several items without bar codes, and I need to buy bags and place all the items into those bags. Oh, and I may need to get change or cash back. Supermarket: No problem, you can use the self-checkout. Me: I have one item, boxed and labeled, to return. I just need to scan a QR code from my phone and drop it off in a bin. Store: Sorry, you have to wait on this long line and have a person help with that. 🤔 The modern age is great and all, with so many conveniences, but so many customer experiences are still backward... #makeitmakesense #cxinsights