One hot July day, a year before I started making gift baskets, Macy’s offered customers a four-piece Godiva sampler with the purchase of another product.

I wanted that sampler, so I participated in the promotion. What I was thinking?

All four pieces turned into a soup sampler by the time I arrived home by car. The trip was a mere 10 minutes, but it didn’t matter. You know how brutally hot a car’s interior becomes during the summer months.

Thinking back, the experience was a lesson for my designer life that chocolate is not to be included within gift baskets during warm months or in tropical climates.

I searched for manufacturers selling chocolate items that didn’t melt or were packaged properly, such as sauces or fudge toppings, and that search uncovered products that were outstanding.

Some of the companies are now out of business. Others, such as Cary’s of Oregon (a sponsor of this blog), offer Trail Toffee and Toffee Fingers, two chocolate treats that are warm weather friendly.

What items do you offer in gift baskets as alternatives to chocolate during warm weather months, or do you simply remove chocolate from your inventory?

Shirley George Frazier

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“Why do I need a business plan to start making gift baskets? Can’t I just let my design work sell itself?”

That’s what I asked myself when I began thinking about a gift basket business in the late 1980s, but then I got smart.

At the time I worked at Dean Witter in New York’s World Trade Center.

“No way did this company start without some type of plan,” I thought while typing a report.

You, too, may want to take a shortcut to success, but many former gift basket business owners have learned that lack of planning is often a shortcut to failure.

There was no way I could write How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business and not include a sample business plan. which you’ll find in chapter 2. It includes each plan component (marketing, competition, start-up costs, and more), and also provides a sample cash flow projection statement.

The latter item is one that’s very difficult to create because you’re not sure how revenue will be generated. But I made one for myself because it would, at the least, help me plan sales during special occasions and end-of-year holidays.

The book’s business plan and charts are a mirror of my own documents, which I created because nothing was available for our industry.

Another place to find a business plan specifically for gift basket businesses is through Business Plan Pro, which you’ll find through this link. I became one of their affiliates because I’m always searching for resources that streamline the administrative side of things so that you can spend more time meeting prospects, expressing appreciation to customers, and testing new design skills.

If one of your first steps, outside of finding baskets and snacks, was to create a business plan, how much do you believe that the plan was instrumental in your overall success versus starting your business without a plan?

Shirley George Frazier

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One day a well-known retailer will see your design work and ask for your services to help them create a prototype gift basket to sell in their store.

This contact occurs more often than you realize, as retailers understand that outsourcing a project to a more-experienced designer is a smart way to complete a project.

I know because it’s happened to me.

The last time was several years ago when a popular wine retailer asked me to create a gift that staff in all of their stores could easily recreate.

I’ve mentioned trays to you in the past. This wood-based container is a corporate favorite, and in general, a popular container for many occasions. Read more about tray-based gifts at BasketsGiftBaskets.com.

For me, the tray ensured that bottles and all accompanying items would be secure as they traveled to its destination, and designing a prototype with it meant there wouldn’t be as much labor involved as with a basket.

When you get the call from a retailer who’s ready to work with you, first consider the products to be selected so that you know which type of container is best. Sometimes a basket is preferred, and other times a tray will be the better option.

Did you choose to work with trays at the beginning of your business or when a customer requested it?

Shirley George Frazier

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Shrink wrap was not my first choice of material when closing my gift basket designs. At the time, the cost for a shrink wrap machine seemed astronomical, a supply that only large, well-capitalized retailers could afford.

Shrink wrap bags weren’t widely distributed either, so I wasn’t able to try that product to see if it was an alternative to buying a large machine.

That’s why I stayed with cellophane for a long time, which you’ll learn more about on the CellophaneWrapTips.com site.

Then I learned that bags and shells were available through supply distributors, and that’s what introduced me to the world of shrink wrap.

Today, shrink wrap of all styles is much more affordable than the costs I remember back in the 1990s. Even if you work in a home-based space, there’s room for shrink wrap in your inventory in terms of cost and space.

I often attend trade shows and watch a shrink wrap supplier demonstrate the machine he’s selling, and I notice that gift basket retailers stand beside me watching, too.

What’s your experience with shrink wrap? What made you decide to bypass cellophane and basket bags and go straight for investing in a machine?

Shirley George Frazier

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Designers will be creating gift baskets for delivery to new and returning college students worldwide.

Are these accounts on your agenda?

If not, what’s your plan to capture a sizable share of the market?

My first plan years ago included promoting baskets with multiple snacks and school supplies to family members best in line to buy, and that did not include parents.

Colleges allow you to connect with prospects in unique ways that are not difficult to pursue.

What’s your approach to get back to school basket orders?

Shirley George Frazier

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Have you joined the Gift Basket Facebook Group?

Taharia Fong, my assistant, is the group’s new administrator.

She’ll make sure that I address questions or comments that you submit and also keep me on track to offer you freebies not available elsewhere.

Join the group, and please welcome Taharia.

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Did you miss this week’s newsletter? The latest issue is at GiftBasketNewsletter.com, along with a valuable offer that expires on Monday.

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A new designer asks if there is a correlation between basket size and number of items. My response is at Ask The Gift Basket Expert. How do you choose how many items to place in your baskets?

Shirley George Frazier

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