Store credit is a
special currency that can only be used to make purchases from a specific
retailer
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...
.
It is often used by retailers when customers
return a product in lieu of a cash or credit card refund, or when merchandise cannot be exchanged.
The store credit amount is usually equal to the item's last
sale price.
In
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
, the store credit is accessed through the retailer's website.
In recent years, retailers have introduced buyback and trade-in programs in which store credit is issued to customers in exchange for
used goods
Used goods, also known as secondhand goods, are any item of personal property that have been previously owned by someone else and are offered for sale not as new, including metals in any form except coins that are legal tender. Used goods may ...
.
In 2022, a group of Italian fashion retailers introduced a scheme in which customers could return used clothes to receive store credit to buy new clothing.
The expected benefit to retailers was increased
customer loyalty
In marketing and consumer behaviour, brand loyalty describes a consumer's persistent positive feelings towards a familiar brand and their dedication to purchasing the brand's products and/or services repeatedly regardless of deficiencies, a co ...
and upselling, as customers were likely to spend more than the credit's value.
See also
*
Cheque
A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a bank, building society, or credit union, to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing ...
*
Gift card
A gift card, also known as a gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK, is a prepaid stored-value card, stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for pu ...
*
Token money
Token money, or token, is a form of money that has a lesser intrinsic value compared to its face value. Token money is anything that is accepted as money, not due to its intrinsic value but instead because of custom or legal enactment. Token mo ...
References
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Retail financial services