New Markets for Retail Businesses
April 26th, 2006 at 09:06am Lorie Obernauer
I just read an article in Specialty Foods Newsletter that described a new program being launched by 7-11 Markets: a national Hispanic program featuring over 80 grocery items, beverages, and health and beauty products. This brought to mind something I had read about a month ago pertaining to the growing Hispanic market.
According to MarketingProfs.com, the growth of the Hispanic population has made it one of the most sought after markets. By 2007, the purchasing power of this market segment will be over $1 trillion!
So what does this mean for gift basket businesses? Since we are always looking for new business, this might be a good time to find out if this particular market segment is being served in your community. Are there local markets that carry a variety of Hispanic foods? If so, you might visit those businesses to find out what products they carry, and who constitutes their customer base. If there is a big demand for these products, maybe that is something you should consider adding to your line. Or, as Flora Brown suggested in her blog, sell your designing skills and offer to make gift baskets with products that those businesses could promote in their own stores.
This same type of analysis would work for any market segment in your community. Are there stores selling kosher only products, or stores that sell Italian foods or Asian foods? The customers that shop at those stores may be delighted to find out that their favorite foods or ingredients can be decoratively packed in a gift basket!
Entry Filed under: Business Tips, Industry News
3 Comments Add your own
1. Flora Morris Brown | May 2nd, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Thanks Lorie for mentioning my blog.
I just had another thought after reading this post. If the communities are becoming more diverse, so are the colleges in these communities.
Every college, even the community college, has a gift shop full of gift items for each major holiday and of course, graduation. Imagine how delighted students from diverse segments would be to find gifts/gift baskets acknowledging and celebrating their heritage? The word would get around campus fast too.
2. Lorie Obernauer | May 3rd, 2006 at 7:43 am
That’s a great idea Flora. And you got me thinking about taking that one step further! Some colleges offer a “snack basket” program for students whereby parents can order baskets for their kids during final exam week. Why not offer “ethnic” baskets full of snacks that represent the tastes and customs of the diverse segments of the college community?
3. Gift Basket Business Blog&hellip | July 16th, 2007 at 10:08 am
[...] Last April, in this blog, I posted an article about this and suggested that gift basket business owners start to think about how they might also tap into this growing market segment. But before we act, it is critical to understand the people that make up this group. [...]
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed