Value Behind Gift Certificates
Every company, regardless of its size or the industry in which it operates, should have a reasonable plan for giving corporate gifts. Managing corporate gifts is an art, not a science, but its principles and challenges are easy to master. Below you will find additional information about the added value of offering Gift Certificates as part of your employee gifting program.
Challenges & Opportunities
Selecting the Best Corporate gifts may have a surprising
impact, helping you meet the following challenges:
- Enhancing Relationships with and Improving the Loyalty of Customers
- Improving the service level of Suppliers
- Developing Greater Employee Goodwill and Productivity
- Increasing Top-of-Mind Awareness Among Prospective Customers
- Improving Relationships with Government Agencies
- Fostering Good Relationships with the Press
Impact On The Bottom Line
Give Emotional Value
Appearance Is Everything
Value Recognition
Gifts vs. Give-Aways
As mentioned earlier, promotional incentives with logos or advertising slogans have no place in a corporate gifts strategy. They may be important, but with entirely different objectives. Usually they are used as forms of advertising, intended to increase brand awareness. Generally they do little to improve personal relationships. Gifts of trips, restaurant dinners, and tickets to sporting events often also have different objectives and are usually considered as on-going incentive promotional events tied to past or expected future performance. We recommend they be included in your company’s program for corporate gifts only when your company’s management or sales representatives will accompany the recipient to the event, thus maximizing the potential for enhanced personal relationships.
Timing of gift giving
Corporate gifts should be appropriate to the occasion and to the relationship. Too frequent gifts reduce their perceived value. Consider limiting significant gift-giving to special occasions like holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Do Your Homework!
Some companies restrict their employees in accepting gifts. Avoid embarrassing yourself and your customer – Make sure his company policies allow accepting corporate gifts, and what conditions may apply. Often this is resolved with a candid question posed to an assistant or secretary
Liquor and Wine
Although liquor as corporate gifts has been a traditional favorite in some circles, it is becoming less popular. It may be offensive to some whose religious or personal standards preclude liquor consumption. Never consider liquor or wine as corporate gifts unless you are absolutely certain it will be appreciated by every recipient.
Government Agencies
Giving corporate gifts to government officers to promote goodwill towards your company or industry carries its own set of potential legal and ethical problems. Make sure your plan is carefully developed and reviewed by the attorneys and the CEO before proceeding. Avoid any appearance of impropriety.
News Media
Proactively developing good relationships with the news media is a good idea that may come in handy during a public relations crisis. But most media companies have strict policies about accepting gifts. Generally your gift should not be given to a specific individual, but rather should be something that can be shared by everyone in his office. Go the extra mile to avoid any appearance of offering a bribe with your corporate gifts.
Gift Certificates as Corporate Gifts:
Not only may gift certificates enjoy some important tax advantages for both the giver and the receiver, they are nearly universally appreciated as equivalent to the item they are good for. So they carry most if not all of the emotional value of the item. As corporate gifts they are also significantly more convenient for both giver and receiver. For food gifts, certificates also avoid handling problems and costs, as well as food safety concerns with perishables.
Check the Tax Laws
As you consider gift certificate suppliers be sure to explore these important issues:
For corporate gifts to employees, the certificate should be good for only one type of product, rather than a cash-equivalent certificate good for any of a broad variety of items. This will qualify it for the IRS de minimis exclusion, making the gift non-taxable
for your employees.
Make sure the certificates are redeemable at any retailer carrying the item, not just at specific stores. The broader the reach the
more convenient it will be for your recipients, especially if they are spread out across a wide geography.
The supplier should have a proactive retailer pre-selling program in place to make sure retailers will accept his certificate. This
may dramatically reduce the frustration of your recipients having to search for a retailer who will accept it.
Corporate gift certificates that are more convenient for the employee:
• Good on any brand.
• Good on any variety (fresh, frozen, whole, portions, sliced, etc.)
• Recipient selects the turkey or ham preffered at the time and place that are most convenient.
Substantial pricing advantage with our corporate gift certificates vs actual turkeys or hams:
• Average holiday retail turkey feature prices
are expected to be low – $.79 to $.99/lb. So
our $15 certificate, for example, could get a
turkey 15-19 lbs, or even larger if feature prices are lower, as they often are.
• On the other hand, wholesale frozen turkey
prices could be over $1.10/lb. The same size
turkey could cost you over $20, plus your own
handling costs