Archive for May, 2008
Do you have an on-line store for your gift basket business? If the answer is yes, you need to make sure that your customers have a positive experience while shopping on your site.
Keep in mind that shopping at your on-line is much like shopping in a brick and mortar store. Think about a store that you like to visit. It is probably clean and well organized. Merchandise is displayed attractively and in a sensible order. At your local department store, women’s clothing is probably grouped on one floor. Then, departments that feature sportswear are separate from evening wear. If you’re shopping for a gift for your mother, it is fairly easy to find what you want once you get to the right floor. At a really well organized store, accessories that can be worn with sports wear or evening wear would be shown near-by. This can result in add-on sales: the buyer may purchase something she didn’t originally intend to buy once she sees how it all can work together.
In the same way, your web site should be organized so that customers can easily find what they want. Obviously, birthday baskets should be displayed separately from baskets designed for corporate buyers. But within the birthday basket category, you can go further by showing baskets for children, then baskets for women, for men, for sports enthusiasts, etc. If you sell other gifts on your site, make sure that they are displayed where they’ll have the most impact. For example, spa products may be shown on your site in a separate area, but also in the section that show gift baskets for women. Don’t be afraid to display your products in more than one section of your site.
Some final tips: make sure that your home page is appealing and invites the shopper into your store. Check all your links and make sure that they work correctly. Try to educate the shoppers who come to your store: why should they buy your products? Include product information (eg. a specific list of items included in each basket) or suggestions about other items they might like (eg. customers who bought this item also bought _____).
Visit other web sites and think about what appeals to you. What makes it easy to shop at other web sites? If you shop on-line, spend time at that web site and consider what you like about it. Then go ahead and make your site the best it can be for your customers.
May 25th, 2008
I was just browsing though the May issue of Deliver Magazine, published by the US Postal Service. An article about “cause marketing” caught my eye. According to author Linda Formichelli, “Co-marketing (or cause marketing) your business with a charity helps not only the cause but also your business…87% of Americans ages 13 to 25 would switch brands if one were associated with a good cause” (assuming the brands are comparable).
How can a gourmet gift basket business owner incorporate cause marketing into day to day business planning? The author gave some suggestions about how to go about starting this type of program. First, you need to think about your own values and how these mesh with your business objectives. In other words, ask yourself: What do I stand for? What is important to me? From this, you can logically come up with a cause to support.
For example, if you only use all natural, organic foods in your gourmet baskets, you might pledge some money from each gift basket sale to an organization that supports “green businesses”.
Or you might support a cause that is related to a more personal issue. A gift basket business owner that I know has a nephew with Down Syndrome and at holiday time, hires part-time workers with Downs Syndrome to help with tasks such as packing, putting bows onto baskets, etc. She also donates part of her holiday sales to the national organization.
These days, when people are being more careful about where they spend their money, you may be able to create a win –win situation for your business, the particular cause you support and your community.
Are you interested in “going green”? Check out the new Envirosax Reusable Shopping Bags at Apex Gift Foods. These colorful satchels can be used for packing your gourmet baskets or you can insert one in your basket as a gift.
May 17th, 2008
Every month in Gourmet Retailer Magazine, a promotional calendar lists special events and holidays for upcoming months. Create and send your own calendar to your customers by email or direct mail so that they are aware of your creative promotions.
Here are some interesting and fun promotional ideas that you can use to spruce up summer sales.
June 9th is Donald Duck’s birthday. How about a newborn baby basket that includes duckie toys, bibs, cups, and other baby gifts? A cartoon video for older brothers and sisters would also be appreciated!
June 13th is the only Friday the 13th in 2008. Offer a 13% off sale on some of your newest basket designs.
Strawberry season starts on June 22nd. Design a basket that include all of your strawberry flavored items: tea, hard candies, cookies.
One hundred forty nine years ago, on June 27th, the “Happy Birthday to You” song was composed. Offer special pricing on all your birthday baskets during the last week of June.
One last note: June is Effective Communications Month. This might be a good time to have a staff training session that focuses on learning new customer service skills.
May 13th, 2008
Are your email campaigns successful? Do you get orders? Are you attracting new customers? Are established customers responding to your emails? Periodically, we need to ask ourselves these questions and think about what we can do better.
Here are some simple, yet helpful tips from Target Marketing, May, 2008.
- Do you know what your email looks like when received by your customer? Before you send an email to your customers, send it to yourself. Is the format attractive? Is the font readable? Are the graphics or photos that you included clear and sharp? Are the colors used appealing? You might also send it to some friends to give you some feedback about these questions. They don’t need to understand your business or have in depth knowledge about your products to be able to tell you whether your email piece is appealing.
- Do your recipients immediately know who the email is from? Your name should be right at the top of the email with contact information easily found. Have you ever scrolled up and down an email to find a phone number or other way to contact the company? Frustrating to say the least! If you have a logo, you might want to incorporate this at the top of every email so that your customers recognize your brand.
- Is your offer clear? Have you offered solutions to problems relevant to your customers? Talk to your best customers and find out what “problems” they experience most often? Are prices too high? Are they looking for products that will save them time when designing? Are they looking for products that appeal to a certain audience? Your marketing campaign can then explain how your products or services will address these particular needs.
May 3rd, 2008
