If you’re active on any social media channels, you’ve likely seen members of those communities participating in an online contest.
Whether people post TikTok videos about a brand, share a Facebook post about a product, or comment on a beautiful Instagram post, retail giveaways are everywhere online.
These giveaways are not only successful online but can also drive significant engagement in physical stores. By using an omnichannel strategy, you can amplify both online and in-store customer engagement, using tools like Shopify POS to create a seamless experience.
Ahead, you’ll learn how to run a successful giveaway for your retail brand with examples and tools to use.
What is a retail giveaway?
A retail giveaway is when a store or brand gives out free items to potential customers. It's a way to get people excited about their products and gain more business.
The retailer might give samples of a new product, offer a free item with purchase, or hold a contest where people can win bigger prizes. The goal is to create buzz, attract new customers, and make existing customers feel appreciated.
How does a retail giveaway work?
Giveaways gained popularity with the rise of television in the 50s and 60s. They became part of game shows and advertising campaigns to reach a wider audience.
Over the years, the internet has changed giveaways, making them easier to run and manage. Online contests, influencer giveaways, and app-based promotions have become common.
Here’s how a typical retail giveaway works:
- The brand decides what they want to give away. This could be product samples, full-size items, or even bigger prizes like gift cards or experiences.
- They set the rules for the giveaway, such as how to enter, who can participate, and when it starts and ends.
- The giveaway is advertised through social media, in-store signs, emails, or other marketing channels to let people know about it.
- Customers participate by following the rules. This might involve making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or entering a contest.
- The store gives free items to those who qualify or pick winners for bigger prizes.
Retailers can use their physical stores to promote online contests by using in-store signage, POS-integrated promotions, and even giving away printed QR codes for customers to scan and enter. This not only amplifies the contest's reach but encourages in-store foot traffic while building an omnichannel experience.
After the giveaway, the store usually follows up with participants to turn their initial interest into long-term customers. The whole process is designed to create excitement and increase interest in the brand.
When to run a retail giveaway
Running a retail giveaway can be a big undertaking. So, you want to launch one at the right time to maximize its impact, whether building brand awareness or making sales.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, there are strategic moments when a giveaway can be effective:
- Product launches: To create buzz around a new product or service.
- Seasonal events: During holidays or special shopping seasons like Black Friday Cyber Monday or back-to-school.
- Slow periods: To boost sales during typically quiet times for the business.
- Brand awareness campaigns: To increase visibility or reach new market segments.
- Customer appreciation: Randomly throughout the year to reward loyal customers.
- Inventory clearance: To move older stock and make room for new items.
- Social media growth: To increase followers or engagement on social platforms.
For retailers with both online and physical stores, syncing giveaways with in-store promotions through your POS system can be particularly effective. For example, use Shopify POS to track in-store purchases and automatically enter customers into the giveaway when they meet the purchase requirements.
How to set up your retail giveaway
Want to run your first giveaway? Here are the steps to follow:
- Define your goal
- Choose the prize
- Decide on a type of giveaway
- Choose a software
- Decide the giveaway rules
- Launch the giveaway
- Announce the winner
- Reflect on your campaign
1. Define your goal
What’s the goal for your giveaway? While you might launch a giveaway for many reasons, your objective might look like one of these options:
- Grow your email newsletter subscription list
- Increase awareness amongst your target audience
- Launch a new product
- Drive customers to your website or into your store
- Gain valuable data from existing and future customers
- Increase social media followers
- Get rid of excess inventory as prizes
If you have a physical store presence, one of your goals may also include driving foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar locations.
Whether the goal is increasing website traffic, growing your social presence, or increasing sales, it’s important to clearly define the goal from the beginning of the campaign.
2. Choose the prize
Identify the prize or prizes you’ll be giving away. This is an integral component of any online contest, as better prizes can help further boost engagement and shares. But avoid offering some generic prize (no more iPad giveaways, for goodness’ sake!). Instead, make the prize relevant to your brand or products.
You could give away your products as prizes to ensure that you're attracting entrants interested in your brand. For example, giving away a TV might attract people who like big TVs and aren't interested in your business or its offerings. But, offering some of your products can attract the right audience and clear the excess inventory cluttering your shelves.
Consider offering in-store-exclusive prizes as part of the contest to incentivize customers to visit your physical store. For example, they might pick up their prize in-store, or a special promotion could be tied to in-store purchases.
3. Decide on a type of giveaway
There are innumerable types of contests for eager retailers to try. Some common types you’ll encounter are:
- Social media sweepstakes: Entrants usually like a business page or an individual post, and share the contest details and link with a certain amount of people to enter. Then the winner is drawn randomly.
- Purchase required draw: Customers who purchase certain products are entered into a raffle to win a grand prize or multiple smaller prizes.
- User-generated content: Customers submit their own content, usually a photo or video of them interacting with your product to win a prize, then the best submission (as defined by you) is awarded.
💡 Get more fun giveaway ideas.
4. Choose a software
Once you’ve decided on a goal and prize for the campaign, it’s time to set it up. You can run the campaign on your own, which will require a lot of effort — from coding to marketing, analytics, categorizing data, and picking a winner.
Alternatively, there are plenty of platforms that help make it simple to run the campaign from start to finish, including:
ViralSweep
ViralSweep is an app that runs giveaways and contests in Shopify stores. It offers features like custom promotion pages, social media incentives, and analytics to help manage promotions.
With pricing starting at $49/month and positive user reviews praising its ease of use and customer support, ViralSweep is a popular choice for businesses looking to run viral marketing campaigns.
Giveaway Ninja
Giveaway Ninja is a Shopify app that manages giveaways and contests to increase customer engagement and sales. It provides features like custom landing pages, purchase-based entries, and referral programs. The app integrates with email marketing platforms and starts at $29/month with a 14-day free trial.
Social Boost Giveaways
Social Boost is a Shopify app for creating and managing various promotional campaigns, like exclusive giveaways, contests, and referral programs.
It offers multiple entry methods, such as social sharing and following, and integrates with email marketing platforms. The app has a free plan for up to 50 users, with paid plans starting at $49.95/month for more users and features.
5. Decide the giveaway rules
Make it easy for customers to enter. One of the biggest reasons people don't enter a contest is an overly complicated entry barrier.
Asking for too much personal information or requiring entrants to complete a lengthy form causes many people to abandon the entry process. Remember your goal and ask people for the minimum information needed to meet your goal.
While setting up the campaign, establish the following parameters:
Timeframe
When your contest will launch, and how long will it run? Aim to run your campaign for between two and four weeks. This is long enough to generate buzz and urgency but doesn’t drag on so long that people lose interest.
Guidelines
Write out the rules around entering your contest, how entrants can win, and when winners will be announced. The social platforms you use to promote your contest will dictate some of these rules. Read up on the individual guidelines for Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Entrant information
Based on your contest’s goals, are you most interested in collecting user emails? Or perhaps boost Facebook engagement? Outline what information you want from contest entrants, and ensure that information aligns with your campaign and overall business objectives
6. Launch the giveaway
Now that you're up and running, it's time to market your giveaway. First, inform your existing customers through your email newsletter, social media accounts, influencer partnerships, and in-store signage.
Suppose your entrants submit their entries through social media (e.g., a photo contest, re-posting the contest info, or liking a specific page or post). In that case, you can also require them to tag a certain number of people to qualify. If everyone needs to share the link with five others to qualify, that's a quick and easy way to ensure you're reaching many people organically.
Promote the contest not only through your online channels but also in-store. With a POS system like Shopify POS, you can display contest information on receipts, and offer instant-entry incentives for in-store purchases.
Keep the momentum going throughout the campaign—it’s easy to start strong and then dwindle as time passes.
💡 PRO TIP: Want to create beautifully branded emails to promote your next giveaway? Use Shopify Email to create, send, and track campaigns, all from within Shopify—no coding experience required.
7. Announce the winner
Once you’ve chosen a winner based on your outlined rules and regulations, it’s important to publicly announce the winner. By advertising the winner through your marketing channels, you build excitement for your next online contest, legitimize it, and provide a face to the campaign.
8. Reflect on your campaign
Once you've ended the giveaway and sent prizes to your winner, it's time to reflect on the efficacy of your contest while the experience is still fresh.
What worked, and what didn’t? Did you see a lift in engagement but not an increase in conversions? Were the rules clear enough for entrants, or did you encounter any obstacles?
Examine the important metrics that are directly correlated to your business objectives. If your contest was successful, reflect on how you can replicate that success in future contests.
Retail giveaway examples
Anastasia Beverly Hills: Back-to-school giveaway
Anastasia Beverly Hills created an exciting back-to-school giveaway offering trendy items like backpacks, clothing, and makeup. The brand cleverly timed this to when students are gearing up for the new school year, getting them enthusiastic about stylish school supplies.
By partnering with other brands and asking people to engage on social media, Anastasia Beverly Hills spreads awareness and grows its audience, especially on platforms like TikTok, where students are active.
Drake Related: Concert giveaway
Drake partnered with the Shop app to offer exclusive merchandise giveaways at his concert venues through shoppable QR codes.
Fans could scan the codes, download the Shop app, and claim free gifts from Drake's online store, Drake Related, creating a unique blend of live concert experiences and online shopping. The campaign generated buzz on social media, rewarded dedicated fans, and allowed Drake to connect with his community while promoting his brand without writing any custom code.
📚 Read more: Drake Redefines Concert Experiences with Shop
NOBULL: Black Friday contest giveaway
NOBULL's email showcases an all-black shoe collection, available on Black Friday, with clear images and release details. It offers a chance to win free shoes by signing up for the giveaway. The simple, dark design matches the Black Friday theme and effectively displays various shoe styles for different preferences.
Run your first giveaway today
Online giveaways are a great way to reward loyal customers, increase engagement from existing customers, increase brand awareness online, and attract new customers. There's an infinite number of unique giveaway ideas to try, so give your first one a go today.
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Retail giveaways FAQ
Which companies do giveaways?
Companies across various industries, from small local businesses to international corporations, run giveaways as part of their marketing strategy. Retail stores, online shops, restaurants, tech companies, beauty brands, and even service-based businesses like gyms or salons all do giveaways.
How to run a retail giveaway?
To run a retail giveaway, start by defining clear goals, choosing an appealing prize, and setting up simple rules for participation. Then, promote the giveaway through various channels like social media, email, and in-store displays, and ensure you have a fair method for selecting winners and distributing prizes.
What is retail sweepstakes?
Retail sweepstakes are a type of promotional contest in which winners are chosen by chance. Typically, no purchase is required to enter. They differ from giveaways because they usually involve larger prizes and are subject to more legal regulations to ensure fair play.
How can you find giveaways?
You can find giveaways by following your favorite brands on social media, signing up for company newsletters, and checking dedicated giveaway websites or apps. Customers can also look for in-store promotions and special events in their local area.
