“We heavily market the use of gift cards,” DeLorenzo says. “It works out not only to our customers’ advantage, but also to ours.” She explains: “When a customer has a gift card, they’re more likely to spend more than they’re given.” They’re going to say, for instance, ‘’Oh, I have a free 50 bucks to spend, and I have some of my own spending money. So maybe I’ll drop $100, even though I only have a $50 gift card.’ That happens almost every time someone comes in with the gift card.”

DeLorenzo accepts Clover gift cards – physical and digital formats – in both of their retail stores. To further increase return traffic and upsell gift cards, Curious Plantaholic offers extra incentives to customers when purchasing a gift card.

“If a customer purchases a gift card, we’ll give them 10 percent off something else at the same time,” DeLorenzo says. “So not only are we ensuring that a customer is getting a good deal when they’re here purchasing gift cards, but they’re going to come back and buy other items with the discount we provided. Bundling and offering incentives has made it really easy for us to sell gift cards.”

Often, gift cards are considered a non-essential item, but Curious Plantaholic has proven gift cards to be an essential part of the shopping experience. Their customers have responded by using gift cards as a great way to offer friends and family the gift of a plant.