Connect With The ‘Gift Economy’ By Offering Discounted Meals Which Customers Can Gift To Family And Friends

KEY INSIGHTS

• The continuing growth of the ‘gift economy’ presents new opportunities to connect with local communities while promoting your brand and menu offering at the same time
• This will allow you to broaden your potential customer base while encouraging people to help out a friend, relative or neighbour by treating them to a dine-in meal
• By tying your food offering into the gift economy, you’re presenting your credentials as a responsible corporate citizen while also making your menu and brand more familiar to the local market
• Be sure to make clear that you’re providing this service at a special discounted price

Home delivered meals are still being ordered in record numbers. And as the ‘gift economy’ continues to grow – driven by people’s desire to reduce wastage and live more sustainably and the ability to connect with like-minded citizens through social media -  we’re now seeing the emergence of a new trend: people gifting meals to relatives, friends and neighbours.

Gifting has traditionally played an important role in ensuring community cohesion, so it’s not surprising to learn that in these challenging times people are turning to Facebook community groups to reach out and gift to people within their local communities.

Your business can play a role in this growing trend – contributing to helping out the local community while at the same time promoting your brand and menu offering. By building an online presence on your local Facebook community groups and reaching out to their administrators, you’ll be able to broaden your potential customer base and at the same time encourage people to help out a friend, relative or neighbour by treating them to a dine-in meal while saving them the trouble of ordering it themselves.

Here’s how it works: introduce your business and its menu via advertising on your local Facebook groups and offer a discount for those people who order meals not for themselves but on behalf of friends, family, relatives etc. You can market this service by encouraging people “treat your friends to a great dine-in experience at home” – and showcase the best of your menu items which will withstand the rigours of home delivery, or utilise instruction cards which make it easy for the meals to be finished by the customer once they take delivery.

By tying your food offering into the gif economy, you’re presenting your credentials as a responsible corporate citizen – while also making your menu and brand more familiar to your local market.

You can also follow-up with people who have ordered meals on behalf of others and encourage them to post positive reviews, which again will serve to boost your social media profile among your customer base while at the same time underscoring your commitment to helping out.

And with people not only in lockdown, but being forced to isolate due to quarantine conditions, many are sure to appreciate their friends and relatives’ generosity in gifting them with a satisfying meal.  Just be sure to make clear that you’re providing this service at a special discounted price – that way people will understand you’re doing your bit to help the community, and not just capitalising upon the situation.

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