Creating a free gift card promotion

Gift card promotions are popular for holiday seasons and other big promotional campaigns. When a guest spends a certain amount on a gift card, they receive a bonus gift card that they can give away or keep for themselves. 

Example: For every $100 the guest spends on a gift card, they receive a free $25 gift card. If they spend $200, they get two $25 gift cards. 

Setting up gift card redemption

By default, Vista loads the actual price paid by the customer onto the gift card. However, in this case the promotional gift card is being discounted to free, so it would be issued with $0 credit. 

To load the intended amount onto discounted gift cards, enable the GiftCardUseFullPrice system setting. 

1. In Cinema Manager, go to Maintenance > System Settings.
2. Set GiftCardUseFullPrice to Yes.
3. Click Save.

Creating gift card items

This type of promotion requires two gift card items:

• One standard gift card with a variable or fixed price. When the guest purchases this item, the promotion is activated. You can create a new gift card item or use an existing one. 
• One promotional gift card with a fixed price. The guest receives this gift card at no charge if they spent enough on the standard gift card. 

To create the standard gift card:

1. In Head Office or Cinema Manager, go to Maintenance > Items.
2. Click Create.
3. Enter the Description and Short Description that will appear in POS and receipts (such as Variable-Price Gift Card). 
4. In the Item tab, update the following settings:
   • Vendor
   • Payment Group: The group for reporting gift card sales
   • Box Office Sundry Item: Checked
   • Allow POS Sales: Checked
5. In the Stock Details tab, enter the pricing details for this gift card. 
   • For a fixed-price gift card, enter the Standard Price and Retail Price.
   • For a variable-price gift card, enable Variable Price Item and set the Minimum and Maximum prices.
6. In the Barcodes and Vouchers tab, set the following:
   • Redeemable Type: Gift Card
   • Barcodes: The barcode range for the gift cards
   • Type of Sale: Gift Card Activation
7. Enter any other details required for this gift card.
8. Click Save.

To create the promotional gift card:

1. In Head Office or Cinema Manager, go to Maintenance > Items. 
2. Click Create.
3. Enter the Description and Short Description that will appear in POS and receipts (such as Promotion - $25 Gift Card). 
4. In the Item tab, update the following settings:
   • Vendor
   • Payment Group: The group for reporting free gift cards
   • Box Office Sundry Item: Checked
   • Allow POS Sales: Checked
   • Report as > Promotion: Checked. Allows the item to appear in the Top 10 Promotion Items section in the Marketing Report. 

5. In the Stock Details tab, set the Standard Price and Retail Price for the promotional gift card. 

   Example: 25.00.

6. In the Barcodes and Vouchers tab, set the following:
   • Redeemable Type: Gift Card
   • Barcodes: The barcode range for the gift cards
   • Type of Sale: Gift Card Activation
7. Enter any other details required for this gift card.
8. Click Save.

Creating the promotion

1. In Head Office or Cinema Manager, go to Maintenance > Promotions and Discounts. 
2. Enter the Description and Short Description that will appear in POS (such as Holiday Free Gift Card). 
3. In the Promotion and Discount tab, set the following: 
   • Type: Deal

   • Effective Date Range: The date range when the promotion will be available

     Tip: Temporarily set the date range to today so you can validate the setup (see below). After you've validated, update it to the actual promotional dates. 

   • Deal Type: Standard Deal
   • Deal Trigger: Prompt operator to add last item. This helps the operator understand why they need to scan another gift card. 
   • Sales Channel: Point of Sale
   • Allow Discounts on this Deal: Not checked
4. In the Items and Tickets tab, select Add Item List > Price Reduction to a Different Item. 
5. Next to Buy any 1 of the items from this list, enter:
   • Type: Item
   • Formula: For each multiple spent

   • Value: The amount someone needs to spend to receive the bonus

     Example: 100.00.

   • List Description: A brief description (for example, Gift Card $100)
6. Directly below, select the Item Class and Item for the first gift card.
7. Next to And buy any 1 of the items from this list, enter:
   • Type: Item
   • Formula: Quantity range
   • Value: N/A
   • List Description: A brief description (for example, Free Gift Card $25)
8. Directly below the second rule, enter the Item Class and Item for the second gift card.
9. Set the Type to Percentage Off and enter a Value of 100.00%. 
10. Head Office: Click Cinema Links and select the sites that will use this promotion. Click OK. 
11. Click Save.

Validating the promotion at POS

Before you validate the promotion, make sure that: 

• Changes in Head Office have been downloaded to the cinema. 
• The POS has the latest changes. Log out and in again to refresh the system settings. 
• The promotion is available today. 

For our example (spend $100, receive $25), we would run the following tests:

1. Sell a new gift card for $100. The POS should prompt the operator to add and scan an additional $25 gift card. The POS and receipt should show a charge of $100 only, with the second gift card discounted by 100%. 

2. Check the balances of both gift cards ($100 and $25 respectively). 

   Note: If the free gift card has a balance of $0, make sure you've completed Setting up gift card redemption above. Log out of POS and back in to refresh the settings.

3. Sell a new gift card for $200. The POS should prompt the operator to add and scan two additional $25 gift cards. The POS and receipt should show a charge of $200 only. 
4. Check that the descriptions and messages on the POS and receipt match what you expect. 

See also:

• Deal implementation examples
• Promotions and discounts