Even Temporary Competition Needs to Be Watched
During the fourth quarter every year, gift basket competition of some type comes to town. They set up makeshift shops in malls, standalone stores, and even in supermarkets.
This is in addition to the competition you already prepare for at superstores, discount retailers, and office supply chains. How do you convince clients to order from you rather than the other outlets that try to trump your sales?
One gift basket designer I recently spoke with says she deflects competitors by expanding her services during the holiday season.
That includes the distribution of free gifts (beautifully wrapped, slow-moving merchandise) and the mailing or Emailing of a customized gift-giving list generated according to the client’s order list from last year.
She says that she knows her clients appreciate her services because her sales increase each year.
What’s your plan for watching how and when the competition comes to your town, and how do you convince customers to buy from you and not from them?
Gift Basket Competition - Are You Ready?
Lots of people have been downsized from the corporate world, and those people are looking for ways to continue feeding their families while searching for new jobs.
Some of these individuals will find employment, and others will start a business.
What will you do if one or more people in your city begin selling gift baskets? Are you prepared for the competition?
One designer client I spoke with recently is facing this situation, and she’s nervous.
“This company put an advertisement in the paper’s business section. How can I make sure my clients don’t buy from her?”
My answer:
Building a relationship around gift baskets and within clients’ personal lives will increase loyalty, and the competition will not be able to scale and wall you build with those clients.
If competitors begin showing up in print and at events, how will you react?
9 Ways to Check Your Gift Basket Competition
Whether you’re new to the gift basket industry or a veteran designer, you’ll either be: 1) the new competition that existing retailers watch, or 2) a veteran retailer watching the new competitor.
How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business includes a chart to document everything you find out about the town newbie. Here are nine ways designers tell me they spy:
1. Call to ask theme questions or to learn if the phone is manned by a live person or machine.
2. Enter the store posing as a customer (supermarket executives do this all the time at new supermarket openings).
3. Send a friend or family member into the competitive shop for a look around.
4. Attend the grand opening or open house event.
5. Pay a college student to monitor the store’s walk-in traffic on a weekday and weekend day. Read more
-
Gift Basket Biz Plan
-
Gift Basket Books
-
-
Welcome, from Shirley George Frazier
-
Visit Our Sponsors
