The Role of Gift Certificates in the Market Place

          A Gift Certificate or Gift voucher is a restricted monetary equivalent that is issued by retailers, the Nigerian retail, that is industry and service industries are yet to catch up with this retail tool, which is a big disservice to the Nigerian consumers. In the western world, this is a multi-billion dollar industry. Sometimes, it is very hard to pick an appropriate present or gift for family members, friends, colleagues or associates to help celebrate that birthday, wedding anniversary or any other special occasion when you have no good idea what the recipient wants or their size, style or color preferences are unknown to you or you simply don’t have the time or inclination to shop yourself. Gift certificates reduce the stress of worrying or wandering if the recipient will genuinely love a gift, and also eliminates the problem of gift duplication, especially where weddings are concerned.
             Generally there are different kinds of gift certificates and general purpose gift cards. Retailer’s gift cards are store specific and allow their customers to use the gift cards at their stores. Restaurant gift cards, allows you to enjoy a nice meal at the restaurant. Gift certificate can also serve as incentives for employers to reward their staff for hard work and dedication and increase motivation and productivity among the staff. Filling stations can also customize and sell gift cards for their products such as petrol, diesel, kerosene and other lubricants; this will reduce fraud, enhance their sales and revenue generation, encourage, build and maintain customer loyalty. General purpose gift cards allow the customers a broader range on where to use the cards These types of cards are typically Visa, Master- cards or American Express and can be used anywhere, though one wonders why these services from the latter are not available in Nigeria.
             These major credit card providers provide these services in the Unites States and several other western countries. In the United States of America, 70% of all major retailers offer some sort of gift certificate. For retailers, a great way to acquire new customers while retaining loyal ones is to set up a gift card program. Gift certificates are an extremely effective marketing tool that can be displayed at the cash register or front desk. They attract new customers and increase brand awareness. The time has come for the Nigerian customers to benefit from these marketing initiatives that are common place in several parts of the world.