A Lesson in Promoting Your Gift Baskets
One of my gift basket designer clients learned a marketing lesson she won’t soon forget.
As she delivered three birthday baskets to a corporate client, she saw more than 100 gift baskets arranged on the client’s conference table.
They were baskets she did not make.
The designer found out from an employee that these were thank you gifts and later asked the client why did he ordered the baskets from another business.
The answer was short and telling:
“Because I didn’t know you made them.”
You’ll see a thank you gift basket video on the GiftBasketVideo.com site.
The designer was heartbroken at first but then realized that her promotions focused on certain designs and not others. Her new plan is to ensure that customers know the full range of her design expertise.
How do you keep your customers aware of the gift basket varieties you create so that they buy from you and no one else?
Spa Gift Baskets Sell Fast on Valentine’s Day
Chocolates, cookies and candy create a great assortment for clients ordering Valentine’s Day gifts for spouses, daughters, and other relatives, but don’t forget to offer spa gift baskets as alternatives.
Soaps, sponges, sprays, moisturizers, powders, and bath pillows arranged in a miniature tub were a big seller for me in 1996 after showing it on a local New York television morning show.
Today, the golden shoe containing bath beads, in the above picture, is ordered by customers who request it for shipping to relatives worldwide.
One gift basket design also included a plush dog with a ball and chain on his leg dressed in a T-shirt with the words Prisoner of Love written on the front and back. The dog was so popular that I couldn’t keep it in stock for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.
What’s most important about selecting inventory is making sure that it can be transferred to another event later that year. I didn’t realize this my first year in business and had to eat or throw away some items because they could not be saved until the next Valentine’s Day.
One more tip: identify your Valentine’s Day gifts with special names. That will create a whirlwind of excitement that encourages prospects and clients to buy quickly.
What methods are planned this year to market your Valentine’s Day gift baskets?
How to Add Fruit to a Gift Basket
Updated articles with expert tips about making fruit baskets aren’t published often, so if you find one that will aid you in adding fruit, be sure to read and save it.
That was my first thought when finding a fruit basket article on the Omaha.com Web site.
There’s no video available, but the next time you’re asked to include fruit, you’ll be able to follow the text and set fruit firmly within your basket.
My first accountant asked me to create a fruit basket for one of her clients located in midtown Manhattan. I didn’t specialize in fruit but became an expert quickly to accommodate the $150 budget. The arrangement mirrored what you’ll read in the article.
It was gratifying to find a parking space (you don’t have to live in New York City to understand how difficult parking can be) and deliver the fruit basket intact to a crowd of folks with smiles on their faces.
I remember the firm’s owner preparing to tip me, but I told her that I was the business owner who was happy to hand deliver her gift, which signaled the owner to put her money away.
Hopefully, the article cited for this post is still available, but if not, here’s an important quote about creating a fruit basket.
“Maybe on the bottom, you put the grapefruit because you want a good level bottom layer. Then layers. You don’t want to put two red apples together. You want to put an orange or a green apple next to it.”
Some of the problems you may have faced when receiving fruit basket requests are:
What’s been the difficulty for you in adding fruit to your baskets?
Add Pet Treats to Your Baskets
Treats for Fido and Kitty are to seriously be considered as you purchase gift basket inventory.
This is especially true if you sell to individuals as well as the corporate market.
Consumers spend millions of dollars on their pets each year. They’ve become four-legged children in most homes.
My former kids, Pepper (Chow Chow) and Daisy (Rottweiler) earned their keep every day, and I splurged on them in any way possible because of the love, affection, and security they provided as part of the family.
I thought about this lucrative market one morning when I read a pet column in the Long Island Press. The article featured a company that sold dog treats and also mentioned that the company creates pet gift baskets.
Many trade and consumer shows include exhibitors with pet products, but if the ones you visit don’t feature such exhibitors, a pet products directory is available with more than 35 wholesaler names, phone numbers, and Web site addresses to make finding products easier.
Pet treats are perfect in hostess gifts (as long as the hostess has a pet) and holiday gifts created for local and out-of-state families. There’s no need to buy lots of products. Just have a few bags of treats available, and add “Does the recipient have pets?” to your roster of customization questions.
Time for Fall and Winter Baskets. Are You Ready?
The weather on the U.S. east coast has changed slightly as it always does in September.
There’s a definite coolness in the air, and even though you don’t yet need an all-day jacket, the signs of fall remind you that certain areas within your business will also change.
For example, summer shred colors are stored while orange, red, and tan shreds take their place. You also may start reviewing your basket and container inventory to make sure each is appropriate for fall and winter themes.
My customers’ favorite container during the winter season is the drum, which you see in the above picture, and the second favorite is the sleigh. I often bring drums to my gift basket classes for students to experiment with their design style. Educators adore keeping the sleigh on their desk from mid-December to the end of January.
Another vessel I often choose during the fall is a three-sectioned basket, as you see here, which is sometimes left over from the summer when they’re selected for picnic baskets when an actual top-lidded picnic container, depicted on this page, is out of stock. This basket is spray painted to match the design theme.
Pastel-packaged products are quickly cleared off shelves through donations and other giveaways if they cannot be sold in gift baskets made this month. That’s the best way to move this merchandise.
In my first year in business, cookies and candy in these light-colored packages would encourage me to eat it rather than sell it, and I was happy to snack all day long. I can still taste the sweet, powdered sugar on my tongue as I chewed every morsel. That sampling was bad for my budget and waistline, so today, no matter how loudly these delicacies call my name, I don’t listen.
What changes do you make in your workspace when the seasons change, or are you in an environment where the temperature stays the same all year long?
Gift Basket Books
-
-
Visit Our Sponsors
