Have you ever purchased a gift basket for a friend or colleague and wondered if you could have made this gift yourself? Did you think that perhaps you spent a lot of money on the gift basket and could have saved money...or could have made the basket even nicer, more attractive, put more expensive items in it, or put more custom items in the basket which would have been more appropriate for the gift recipient?
If you have wondered this and are looking for an opportunity to start your own business, then a gift basket company may be for you.
In order to start your own gift basket company, you will need a few good things.
Most likely in order of importance (but that may be up to you to determine exactly), you will require:
Only 5 things, you ask...yes, just 5 things. If you have these 5 things, you could be on your way to a new gift basketing future.
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The gift basket business is no different than any other proprietary ownership business. You must have tenacity. You must have a spirit of not giving up and pushing yourself to the level you want to achieve. If you are not tenacious in running your business, it is likely that the rest of the qualities required for business ownership will be rendered meaningless. That is, even if you have dedication, creativity, great suppliers and a fabulous website, if you do not have a stick-to-it-ness, your chances or success and even survival will be at risk.
You cannot run a business and not have a spirit of never giving up. Sure there may be times when smart decisions are made that require giving up a business but, that is still in the tenacious spirit.
You have made the decision only after you have given everything you have and it just has not worked. That is simply a smart business decision. That is not a definition of giving up.
Similar to tenacity but with a slightly lower dose of aggression (strong word to describe it...), dedication is simply being totally dedicated to your cause, your business. You must put in the hours in order to have a chance of success. Any business owner will tell you that they are usually required to work many hours to get to where they need to be. However, this does come with great satisfaction and a feeling of personal achievement which far outweighs the hours of time put into the business.
Like a child learning to tie their shoes, the feeling of satisfaction being able to say, "I did it myself", is a great self esteem booster. These are great moments in life, young or old. Without dedication, you probably will not make it to that level. You may make it to a lower level and that may be satisfactory to you. However, if you fully dedicate yourself to your own business, you will definitely see a difference in the success level of the company.
Creativity is probably a good thing for most businesses. However, creativity in a gift basket company is a must. If you are going to make your own baskets, you must use your creativity. Most consumers are not willing to pay money for something that they could have thought up themselves. The styling, themes and presentation of gift baskets is part of their selling feature.
If you are a creative person (and it may be the reason you are even considering opening a gift basket company), you can let your creative juices fly. People buying gift baskets generally love a unique basket, as it will be seen as a unique gift to their gift recipient.
Being a small gift basket company, you may require even more creativity in order to compete with the big gifting companies out there. They have the resources to pay designers and buyers who specifically design gift baskets. However, because these gift basket companies are so large, they tend to create and design gifts for the masses, meaning they may not be as creative or unique as you can make your gift baskets.
The gift basket industry is filled with creative people. This is why the selection of gift baskets is so varied, unique and beautiful. Your own creativity may be the thing that distinguishes you from your competitors and may become your unique selling proposition - an essential marketing element for business success.
If you have made it this far in the article, you are probably pretty serious about starting your own gift basket business. Good for you! Keep reading as the topic now turns to more specific gift basket information. Without the first 3 qualities, you may not be the best candidate for owning your own business.
As with any business, finding good suppliers is crucial. You need or want them to have the supplies you need when you need them - kind of like the just-in-time business sourcing theory. While you may not be a big enough player to make this happen as succinctly as the big companies do, you may want to do this as much as possible. This will require finding suppliers which provide you with small amounts of inventory or stock with quick shipping possibilities.
Not only will you be looking for quick inventory sourcing but you will be looking for the right inventory or gift basket items.
You are likely to find that there are several companies out there that provide the stock gift basket items and those that sell the gift basket packaging materials. Some companies supply both - which is probably your best bet for a small company as it will decrease the time, effort and money put into obtaining your gift basket supplies. For the most part, you will see a reduction in your shipping costs by purchasing all of your gift inventory from one supplier.
The downside to purchasing all of your supplies from one wholesaler is that they may not offer all of the products and packaging that you really want. So, my advice is to investigate all of the suppliers, what they offer and how much it will cost you. But, most importantly, you really should be buying those items that you want in your baskets and any special packaging materials so that you maintain your uniqueness in the gift basket industry.
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Lastly, but not necessarily the least important in running a successful gift basket company, is a good website. These days, almost every company requires a website. This is even more critical for a gift basket company, unless you are planning on doing local deliveries only. Even then, a website and local internet web traffic will be important.
Consumers are depending on websites to provide them with most of the necessary information on a given product before they make the purchasing decision. A website will highlight all of your gift baskets (with mandatory great photos - hire someone if you need to) that you offer.
If you have a ecommerce enabled website, you can actually make the sale on your website - whether it is being delivered locally or across the country.
If your goal is to have a larger presence in the gift basket competition, you should be offering delivery country wide. It will expand your market significantly and will only require a bit more work in terms of packaging and shipping.
If you have made it to this point in the article, I think you are pretty serious about starting your own gift basket company. You may want to look into this further. There are many opportunities out there and with the internet, the possibilities are almost endless. As much as you can dream, as much as you can achieve. Good luck in your new gift basket venture!
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