7-Eleven Stores Offer Other Companies’ Gift Cards… A Good Idea For Online Marketers?
By Anna Johnson on June 4th, 2009The best marketing ideas often come from the most unlikely places and so too, an initiative by 7-Eleven in Australia, may be food for thought for online marketers.
Basically, 7-Eleven Australia is selling other stores’ gift cards in its outlets. I love this for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it’s a ‘marriage’ of value propositions. 7-Eleven’s main value proposition is convenience… and gift cards are the ultimate convenient gift. So for 7-Eleven to offer a variety of gift cards in its outlets – gift cards for major brand clothes stores, bookstores, computer game stores, etc – is to give customers even more convenience. In fact, you could say that by offering the gift cards, 7-Eleven is expanding on its convenience value proposition.
Secondly, the arrangement is a great example of joint venture marketing. The best marketing joint ventures are often where there’s not just a synergy in the eyes of the joint venturers, but also in the eyes of customers. I’m not sure about the basis of the arrangement – whether the cards are pre-sold to 7-Eleven or offered on consignment – but from a customers’ point of view it’s a ‘no brainer’: ‘where can I get a convenient gift? From the convenience store!’
So how does this apply to online marketers? Well, it might apply literally – maybe you run an online store where you could offer gift cards, gift points or some such. Or it might simply be something to think about – how else can you tap into, and expand on, your customer value proposition?
