TORONTO, ON–Transition Squad, a Toronto-based franchisor of estate and downsizing auctions, is pleased to announce the launch of SupportLocal.Club, an initiative to support local businesses by selling gift cards/vouchers and distributing coupons on their behalf.
“Transition Squad has been helping seniors downsize and working with families settling an estate since 2006” says Viraf Baliwalla, President of Transition Squad. “Till now, we have primarily been auctioning second hand items to our database of consumers, collectors and resellers. SupportLocal.Club helps us give back to the small business community by promoting local merchants and the #SupportLocal movement while also giving our auction buyer members new products, services and experiences to bid on”.
“I know we received some calls from the gift card marketing” says Alexander Kochas, CFO for Metropolitan Movers, a moving and storage franchisor. “We are now working to get the bookings when people start moving again”.
Here’s how it works:
> Merchants give Transition Squad one virtual gift card worth something meaningful to their prospective audience
> Transition Squad auctions it through SupportLocal.Club with no listing fees or seller’s commission charged to the merchant, and with a starting bid of 5-10% of the face value
> If there are no bids, it is not a problem because it hasn’t cost the merchant anything, however they have received exposure to a niche engaged audience
> If there are bids, the merchant gets at least one new Transition Squad member as a customer that they may not have otherwise gotten
> It is then up to the merchant to deliver a positive experience that results in repeat business and referrals
> The hard costs to the merchant will be their wholesale cost of servicing a new client
For example: a restaurant would incur expenses for rent, utilities, overheads and staff anyway when the Transition Squad member comes to redeem. Therefore, the actual cost to service the new customer would only be the cost of the ingredients for the meal they order. Effectively, a $100 face value gift card would only cost the restaurant $10-20 but the lifetime value of the customer could be significantly higher.
With an auction, there can only be one winner. Anyone else that wants to support that local merchant can still download coupons such as 10% Off, 2-4-1, etc., again at no charge to the merchant
For Transition Squad members, it is like getting free money. If they are the only bidder, they could get a $100 gift card for only $5-10. In most cases, the highest bid will still be at a discount from the face value.
“Small business is the lifeblood of any community” adds Baliwalla. “It’s important to support them, especially at such a difficult time”.
Transition Squad and its franchisees offer a menu of downsizing related services to seniors and their families, however their core specialty has been selling the contents of clients’ homes through their own online auction platform. Now with SupportLocal.Club, Transition Squad also offers Gift Card auctions for local businesses.
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