Help -I want to sell unique gift certificates/cards to multiple different retail/restaurant vendors

[jjgdenver]

Hi there - I'm fairly new to Shopify and I need some help understanding the best way to achieve what it is I'm trying to do. Here's the situation:

• I represent a neighborhood community organization (non-profit)
• To support our businesses during COVID, we want to launch a "business bond" program - any business in the district can sign up, and via one online store, people can shop for gift certificates to any number of restaurants and retailers in the neighborhood. The gift cards are sold at a discount now (e.g. you can buy a $100 value gift card now for $75) and the catch is that the certificate can only be used in the 2nd half of 2021. 

So here's what I need to know about Shopify:

• Best way to set up an online shop to buy unique gift cards to different retailers (I think this is simple enough as just doing a product for each)
• Best way to manage the "discount" - I'm guessing I just need to use the discount feature when I set up the product and then use the text to explain the maturity date, etc.
• Is there a way to automate so that when the purchase is made - it emails a gift certificate to the customer automatically from Shopify?

Thanks for any help/guidance you all can provide!

Jamie

[psome]

This is a good idea and I hope it brings in revenue for Business district.  I have a few questions for clarity.

- I assume your are using Shopify to be central point to sell the discounted gift cards for all the stores in your area. 

- Will the Customers have the choice of  purchasing a gift card for a specific Restaurant / Store or is this a general gift card for the the entire Business district?

- Your questions is how do you automatically fulfill / delivery these electronic gift cards?

             the gift cards will have a "face value"  greater then there purchase price and they will not be valid until 6/152021 ish?

Do I have that correct?

[jjgdenver]

Hi! Thanks for responding.

Yes - we are using Shopify to be the central point to sell the discounted
gift cards for all the stores in our area.

The customers WILL have the choice of purchasing a gift card for a specific
restaurant. We will not be selling general gift cards.

Yes - curious as to how to automatically fulfill and deliver the gift cards
- and yes, they will have a face value greater then the purchase price. Our
plan is that they will not be valid until 7/1/21.

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

[psome]

You can execute this call assembly simply or can add some complexity if it suits the business need.

operational thought: Each restaurant probably has there own existing gift card system  weither it be simple  paper manual-based or automated in their point of sale system. It’s clear that the gift cards you’re selling will operate outside of  that structure

- when are you planing i’m giving the restaurant the funds. When the gift card sold or when then they get used?

*simplest form*
- List each restaurant gift card according to the deal

—— restaurant “A” $75 gets your $100

—— restaurant “B” $40 gets your $50.

then email The purchaser a “PDF” Gift certificate to claim there funs why also providing the restaurant a listing of all gift card sold so they can validate and redeem.

i Did quick search of the shopify App Store and found an app called Sandowl

https://apps.shopify.com/sendowl

looks like you can automate the PDF using a tool like this.

more complicated 

- Implement a gift card system that would issue serialized gift cards that the merchant can use to claim the funds and update the balance of the gift cards.

*This is more complicated* I have some thoughts about how to implement this  if the simple approach listed first does not work. 

[Neomi_av]

Hi @jjgdenver, I'm Neomi from Rise.ai app,

I'm not sure if this is still relevant but we supported similar initiatives during the last year in New Zealand and Canada.

You can read about our support here and here

Contact us at info@rise.ai and we would help you find the best solution for your needs