Going back a couple of years ago as my wife and I would always touch on the subject of opening up a business. Knowing that in our hearts, we both were looking to venture in the same direction, a passion we both desire. This was something we both wanted to do but, the same question would always come up...what type of business? We each have our own talent and in some cases the same but neverless, we compliment each other which make up a team to be business savvy. As a year passed, the topic would come up more often and our conversations on the subject became deeper. We discussed many business avenues during that time and researched each obtainable idea which came to mind.
It was a warm summer night in July, when the business idea of gift baskets came up. Hmmm.......you know, that may not be such a bad idea. My wife has the talent for design and myself with business so doing gift baskets sounds very attractive and easy.(Remember I had said easy) So off we go and start our research and came to a resolution that this is the business we are wanting to grow with.......Gift Baskets.
After obtaining the business license, website, dropshippers and trying to figure out how to make a website, we finally got things rolling after a couple of months of pure persistance.
With now having access to many types of gift baskets from our dropshippers such as gourmet, birthday, romance, get well, house warming gift baskets. We were ready to serve up anything that the public needed.......wrong! We have a website but nobody knows were here. Research and more research, gee, I think our brains are getting overloaded. Search engine optimization(SEO), links, content............. opps, we forgot to research that part. So, our hard diligence back at work, get info , write info, content, get links, more content, changing the site for the seasons such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines day, Easter, Mothers Day.
After a couple of months into the internet gift basket business.......ahhhh...our first order. Seems like there's success after all from all this work, and I mean it is work.
As we begin to grow, we don't want to be dependant on the gift basket dropshippers, so we begin our journey and start with purchasing inventory. Our first step.....Baby gift baskets! Seems like there's enough need for them since they're being born on a daily basis. Then came the gourmet, my god, there's alot of choices to make in that catagory. Chocolates, cooking, candy, coffee, teas, and the list goes on. You know, the more we expand our line up the more neccessities we need such as office supplies, bows, ribbons, gift cards and didn't I mention hard work. Tracking inventory, account payable and recievables and still working a full time job.
After almost a year into the gift basket business, we have had many orders, some from the internet and some local. We do deliver within a 50 mile radius of Monroe, Michigan for the convienance of the customers. A nicely presented gift basket without the box of leaving on a door step is a nice welcome to the reciepiant.
My wife designs the gift baskets and I will say, all of our clients have been very pleased with the results. Sometimes, if we have a customer that is far away, and the reciepiant is a Michigan delivery, we will take a digital picture and e-mail back to our customer, what a delight for them it is.
Now, as for designing gift baskets, this is no easy task either. Before my wife started to put the gift baskets together, she researched designs, how too's, but they don't tell you everything. No wonder they have classes you can attend on these now. She did very well and caught on quickly on the many avenues a gift basket designer needs, but, you never stop learning. There's always the season and holiday changes to keep up with which keeps you thinking ahead of those holidays such as Valentine's Day, Mother's day, Father's Day, Sweetests Day, Halloween and Christmas to name a few. It's like changing your decor in your house for all the changing seasons and holidays. Other types of themed gift baskets are for weddings and bridal showers, baby showers and gift baskets for welcoming the new baby and the mom home. Of course there's the birthdays, housewarming, thank you, and many other types and occasions.
One alternative way to help with selling gift baskets is using drop shippers. These companies have inventory in stock which allows you to have more to offer in several ranges of gift baskets for any season or any holiday. Get an order, order through the drop shipper and they do the rest. You will benefit using these companies, sometimes there's a cost at start and afterwards you recieve 20% - 50% in return. Now there's a catch to this, you have to be careful with whom you have these business relations with. Most companies out there are very good companies to work with. Great presentation, customer service and on time delivery. However, there are some out there that put on a good showing but.... as we have found out, that is as far as it goes. Late or no deliveries, customer services lie to tell you what you need to hear and the list goes on. These type of reactions from those companies will just bring your company down and lesson your customer service. I don't know about you, but customer service is a main ingrediant in business survival. So if your in the market for a drop shippper, the best thing to do is visit the gift basket forums that are out there or just e-mail an existing gift basket company.
