PLUGGING new strategies to grow revenues and regain profitability, cinema operator Palace Amusement Limited recently commenced a partnership with digital gift card company Giftme.

Under the partnership launched earlier this week, customers now have the option to electronically gift their friends and loved ones with trips to see some their favourite movies on the big screen. Giftme as a distributor of e-gift cards currently partners with a number of merchants and has, since its inception, helped a number of businesses to grow sales and attract new customers.

“We’re officially a merchant of Giftme, and as of now patrons can buy as much as they want on these cards to gift friends and family a trip to the cinemas. Prior to this they would have to go to the theatres to buy the gift cards but with this partnership we are now offering greater convenience,” Melanie Graham, marketing manager and director at Palace, told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

“It’s also easier in the sense that it allows for spur of the moment gifting,” she added.

Palace, which has racked up millions in losses since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020, has been yearning to return to pre-COVID levels, at which time it delivered over a billion in sales. Up to the end of its last financial year ended June 2022 the company, as per its audited financials, reported increased revenues of $649 million — 514 per cent or almost six times above that earned in 2021. Though remaining in the red, losses over the 12 months however fell to $260.6 million — $122 million less than the previous year.

“Our numbers are not yet back up to 2019 but they are certainly better than 2021 and showing signs that we are still alive and kicking,” Graham said of current occupancy levels while also expressing hope of surpassing pre-pandemic numbers beginning as early as this financial year.

Speaking to the success of other marketing initiatives aimed at driving growth for the company, including the staging of a cinema day held last month as a one-time offer aimed at bringing patrons back to the cinema, Graham described the initiative as well supported.

Though unable to quantify exact contributions, she said the initiative served its purpose in enticing patrons back to the cinema —including those who may have opted to stay away since the outbreak of the pandemic. Slashing prices to $450, a substantial drop from the usual $1300-1400 price usually charged per adult, cinemas welcomed excess capacity across all locations on September 10.

“It went very well; one day would not have significantly changed anything but it certainly helped. For the change in prices we had to get special permission from the distributors to do it, which also resulted in a reduction of the shared percentage. However, while it may not have greatly impacted the company’s financials in delivering a bonanza, what it did was to bring people out to the cinema that had not come for a long time, including those who may have also not done so before COVID,” she said to the Business Observer.

Graham said with the company further banking on the success of upcoming films — which include the release of Black Adam, a Marvel Pictures film starring actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on October 21, followed by more favoured films such as Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever on November 11, and Avatar in December among a growing list of films its directors have projected to come in 2023 — it is hoping to improve its current position and return to profitability as soon as possible.

“We are certainly looking forward to the return as we are not accustomed to being in the position that we find ourselves at all,” she stated, noting other ongoing initiatives, such as rentals and discounted programmes, which remain on offer across the circuit of cinemas.