Gift Basket Business Blog » Holidays

Add Paper Power to Gift Baskets

Lorie Obernauer — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 03:48:47 +0000

If you’re looking for some items to add to your basket designs, considering browsing the marketplace at the National Stationary Show, May 15 – 18, at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.

“The products showcased in the National Stationery Show include greeting cards, invitations, imprintables, giftwrap/ribbons, stationery, specialty party supplies and paper tableware, bridal accessories, customized/personalized products, in-store printing equipment, decorative home office products, luxury leather goods, writing instruments, paper-crafting supplies, frames, journals, calendars, specialty giftware, scrapbooking and back-to-school.” As you check out this global marketplace, featuring over 900 vendors, expect to find a wide variety of new products that to fire your imagination for your summer, fall and holiday gift basket creations.

For a preview of what to expect at the show, check out the online April issue of Gift, Gourmet & Decor Plus. For show and registration details, go to Paper Power.

10 Gift Basket Holidays in April

Lorie Obernauer — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:45:58 +0000

Little did you know! During the month of April, you can create unusual gift basket designs for 10 holidays and special occasions. Put on your creative thinking hat, think outside of the box and produce some imaginative designs that will entice your customers and create new opportunities to increase your sales. Can you come up with a unique design for any of these holidays? Please share your ideas….send in your photos and I’ll post your design with your business information!

April 1: April Fools Day
April 2: International Children’s Book Day
April 6: National Day of Hope
April 10: National Siblings Day
April 16: Husband Appreciation Day
April 17: Family History Day
April 19: Passover
April 23: Movie Theater Day
April 24: Easter
April 27: Administrative Professionals Day: Check out the photo above. A calculator, a picture frame, a decorative pen and pencil holder plus some chocolates, snacks and candies, all wrapped in beautiful papers. What a terrific gift for any professional!

For more information about special holidays and events, see the “Idea Calendar” in the March issue of Gift, Gourmet & Decor magazine.

Ultimate Gift Show & Gift Basket Convention

Lorie Obernauer — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:09:38 +0000

The Ultimate Gift Show and the National Gift Basket Professional Convention have merged to present a bigger and better buying experience for gift basket businesses. The event takes places August 4, 5, 6 in Columbus, Ohio.

Three days of seminars will include design and business tips, information about social media marketing, and book signings by well known industry authors. Vendors from across the country will be displaying their wares.

Don’t miss this opportunity to attend this convention filled with 13 hours of seminars, demonstration classes hands-on workshops, 10 hours to browse the trade show plus unlimited opportunities for networking.

Check out the Ultimate Gift Show and the National Gift Basket Convention today.

Gift Baskets: Be Optimistic For 2010 Holiday Sales

Lorie Obernauer — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 03:27:20 +0000

In the September issue of Gourmet Retailer Magazine, check out “Gift Items” for a review of products that consumers are likely to purchase this holiday season. Author Anna Wolfe, cites statistics from Unity Marketing’s Gifting Report 2010 ranking the top gift selections for 2009 holidays. “Ranking #11 was gift baskets with 16% of gift givers saying they gave a Gift Basket, including cookies, snacks, fruit, candy, wine and other consumables.” Based on these survey results from 1,680 gift buyers, we can be optimistic about the holiday season sales for gift basket businesses.

Other interesting notes and ideas from Pam Danzinger, president of Unity Marketing…

“consumers want more bang for their gift buck and want to give, and receive, gifts that are perceived to be high quality and more expensive than they really are”…With this perspective in mind, Gift Basket professionals should carefully consider the “extras” (keepsake containers, bows, wrappings, ornaments, etc) that can be used to enhance the perceived value of their gift basket designs.

“as much as 44% percent of consumers’ gift -giving budgets are spent on personal gifts such as birthdays, friendship, anniversaries, baby showers, etc. that occur throughout the year”….This should remind us that gift baskets are a perfect solution for other special occasion gift giving. Consider giving a gift certificate for a future purchase to the buyer AND the recipient of your baskets that they can use on a future purchase.

It’s All About Service

Lorie Obernauer — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:17:36 +0000

Have you ever walked into a store and had to look for a sales person who could wait on you? What kind of mood were you in when you finally found someone who could help you? This has happened to me on numerous occasions and all I want to do is finish my transaction and get out of that store as quickly as possible!

During these times when customers are even more discerning about where they shop and what they buy, many business owners and managers recognize that good customer service can really make a difference and that good service begins the moment a customer walks in the store or as soon as a phone call is answered. As we move into the busy holiday selling season, it’s a good time to take another look at the service you provide and make sure that all employees are doing their best to satisfy customers.

Read the article “Are you Being Served?” in the August, 2010 issue of the The Gourmet Retailer. Author James Mellgren discusses the importance of first impressions and reviews techniques that your employees can use to deal with customer complaints. He also recommends a book called “Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service”. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for ways to education your staff in the fine art of customer service!

Seasonal Employees for Gift Basket Businesses

Lorie Obernauer — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 02:08:31 +0000

Many gift basket businesses hire additional workers for the November-December holiday season. Well, now is the time to hire…and train those employees. Read Maggie Bayless’ series on staff training in Gourmet Retailer Magazine. The first installment appears in the August issue.

Bayless suggests that this the time to put together a training plan for seasonal employees. To begin, you can answer these questions:
“What is expected of the trainees…and by when?”
“How will that information be made available?”
“How will we know the expectations are met/not met?”
“What are the rewards/consequences?

Read the full article to get the answer to the first question. Start thinking about what skills/tasks the employees will be required to complete. As you make that list, consider what type of skills are represented on your list: for example customer service skills or operational skills. How much product knowledge is needed? It’s probably true that designers need different information than delivery people, but both types of employees might need the same general information about your business.

You can prepare your seasonal employees to be efficient and effective. Start thinking about that now. Watch for future posts describing the full series of Maggie Bayless’ articles.

Check Your Calendar for Gift Basket Promotions

Lorie Obernauer — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:20:19 +0000

There’s a new industry trade magazine that includes monthly calendars that list a multitude of ideas for your gift basket business. Each issue of Gift, Gourmet & Decor Plus magazine has an “Idea Calendar” with suggestions about seasonal promotions as well as notes about national and legal holidays. In the August issue, flip to page 6 in the online magazine and you’ll see ideas for promotional activities that you might try in September and October.

For example, September 8th is International Literary Day. How about a gift basket design that includes a best selling novel. You might even work with a local book store in your neighborhood for this promotion.

The calendar also notes two Jewish holidays in September: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and National Grandparents Day is celebrated on September 12th. Bosses Day and Sweetest Day will both be observed on October 16th. With this calendar, you can plan ahead and create new baskets designs for some unique holiday promotions.

Get your complimentary subscription of Gift, Gourmet & Decor Plus and stay ahead one step ahead of your competitors.

Prepare Now for Holiday Gift Basket Profits

Lorie Obernauer — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:03:10 +0000

Now is the right time to prepare for the holidays. Yes, it’s not even Labor Day, but the holidays will be here before you know it. And by preparing now, you can be ready for any surprises that may come up during the hectic days in November and December.

I just read a good article that offers six suggestions for holiday prep work that you can do right now. Read the full article for all the suggestions….and consider some of these:

Think about the customers who you want to attract. Who bought your gift baskets last holiday season? Were most of your holiday sales made to women? to men? what age group? Use this information to design advertising materials and promotions that will appeal to those customers.
Start looking through industry magazines and web sites to get an idea of the gourmet products that are “hot” this year. Specialty Food News is a great resource to learn about trends in our industry.
Browse the internet and look at holiday products that are being shown by large retailers. Are you seeing certain design styles or colors?
Confirm with your vendors that you’ll be able the items that you want to use in gift baskets will be available.
Check with your usual shipping company to find out if rates will be increasing. Take the time to check other shippers to find out about their current rates.

Gift Baskets to Celebrate “National” Holidays

Lorie Obernauer — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:52:28 +0000

In addition to the popular national holidays that we traditionally celebrate, there are hundreds of organizations that celebrate their causes through a day or month of recognition. For example, you may not be aware that March is:

American Red Cross Month
Irish-American Heritage Month
National Nutrition Month
National Noodle Month
National Peanut Month
Women’s History Month
Workplace Health and Safety Month

Any of these can serve as a basis for marketing your gift basket business.

And most of these have web sites that include information to support your promotional efforts.

For example, the American Red Cross offers a multitude of opportunities for Americans to donate time and money to many worthy causes. Have you ever checked in with your local Red Cross office to find out about their activities? Maybe you can arrange to have some percentage of your gift basket sales donated to the Red Cross? Your customers may appreciate this opportunity to have their gifts also be a “gift” for someone in need.

You might check out the National Irish-American Heritage Month web site and get some ideas about what local communities may do to celebrate. If you find that local organizations in your community are holding a parade or some type of special event, you may be able to promote your gift basket business by joining in the festivities. Donate a basket to giveaway or set up a booth on the parade route.

National Peanut Month or National Noodle Month provide opportunities for you to design and promote a special basket featuring those products. If you do more research on the web, you can find recipes that you can add to a “pasta” basket or “fun facts” that you can use to make your “peanut” basket unique. (Did you know that four of the top 10 candy bars manufactured in the USA contain peanuts or peanut butter…how about a peanut butter candy bar basket?)

Spend a little time on the web and use your imagination to learn about these “national holidays”. Then, create exclusive basket designs and unusual marketing opportunities to promote your gift basket business.

Teach Your Customers How To Order Gift Baskets

Lorie Obernauer — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:48:05 +0000

Although you may still be putting away your Christmas decorations, it’s time to start promoting your Valentines Day designs. If you’re accustomed to sending out emails or direct mailings that simply list your holiday promotions, think about a new twist.

Put together a checklist that will help your customer make choices about your basket designs. Point out the features of each basket, what products it includes and the type of person that might find it appealing. For example, a basket that includes an adorable bear might be appropriate for a younger person; a basket that includes a coffee mug might hit the spot for someone who works; a design that includes some spa products might be the perfect choice for a busy mom.

You can also share information about extra services that you offer: delivery and/or shipping options; special wrapping, cards, ribbons, balloons or other enhancements for a more “customized” basket. Think about offering cash discounts or a coupon for a discount on an Easter basket. Or team up with a local florist to include a some silk roses with your design.

Let your customers know that you’ll go the extra mile PLUS offer fabulous designs full of gourmet treats and goodies!