"Soooo 20th century!"
February 13th, 2008 • Posted by Bill Bice • Permalink
It's the eve of Valentine's, and Instant Gift Certificate sales are in full swing. I happened to catch this review go by from a client of Spa in the Valley in Hunt Valley, Maryland:
Everything went very smoothly. Thanks. I also must point out that I chose to do business with you because of this ability to buy a certificate online and print it out immediately. Another local spa wanted to snail mail the certificate — that is soooo 20th century!
I love these big gift-giving occasions, because Instant Gift Certificates are bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars for SpaBoomers right now, when snail mail and online shopping carts are at $0.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I agree that the online option is far and away the biggest last minute sales generator, but even so — we always have about 10% of our online sales come in through the regular shopping cart which then gets shipped out via snail mail. And this doesn't even account for the larger number of buyers calling on the phone to place and order. Some people just prefer to have the physical Gift Card wrapped up and all pretty to present. As a long time user of all things electronic however, we always put the "instant online" option right out in front but we do keep the other channels open as well. BTW — haven't run the final numbers yet but this year the buying is definitely more last minute than last year. I am more than a bit worried that the idiot media's constant screaming that the economy is doomed will be the primary reason for the economy to tank. I hope everyone calms down, buckles up and doesn't give into the emotional, class-warfare frenzy that has become our 24/7 news/entertainment (there is no difference between the two anymore) cycle. Here is too a stable 2008.