Do you know where to locate delicious foods and gifts? There are lots of places, and here’s where you’ll uncover 11 places to find gift basket products. Some facilities are closer than you think.
From trade shows to supermarkets
Attending trade shows to find products for gift baskets was my first and only place to buy.
For me, buying potato chips and pretzels at the supermarket was a no-no. Such items would never make my gift baskets special. In fact, supermarket products would let my customers calculate the gift’s true cost, compare it to my sales price, and immediately decline buying from me.
In my eyes customers would see no value whatever and possibly decide to make the same gift basket I displayed because they could buy those products themselves. I couldn’t have that, but what was the alternative?
Finding unique foods and gifts to fill your gift baskets is not a difficult task. After all, you want goodies that showcase your talent.
Such products also make the receiver feel as though you went to the ends of the earth to find goods just for her. This is why filling gift baskets with traditional brand name items may not be a wise choice, especially if you are competing with other gift basket makers.
Be Choosy
It’s a well-known fact that wholesalers must sell their goods in as many places as possible to increase revenue. That’s understandable. However, not all wholesale products are found in every store worldwide. This means you have a better than average chance of filling your gift baskets with products most people have never seen.
When I conduct in-person gift basket classes (there’s also an online gift basket course with new sessions launched each month), I have to buy items that aren’t in every supermarket and dollar store.
My mission is to help aspiring designers create gift baskets they are proud to sell to customers if each one was being made for sale. That won’t happen with products from Lays, Planters, or Nabisco.
There is nothing wrong with adding these brands in hobby designs. However, professional gift basket designers must search for and buy products that aren’t available in large and small grocery stores.
Products for my classes are found at local farmers markets and specialty stores. They offer popcorn, cookies, mints, and sweets in quality packaging, and the goods are delicious, too.
I often want to buy in-class products directly from wholesalers, but I’ve learned that such a choice has disastrous consequences, a topic for another article.
11 places to find gift basket products
You have lots of choices to find foods and gifts that turn your designs into masterpieces that everyone wants to receive. Gift Basket Products, So Easy to Find contains lots of information.
Here’s a list of places to find your perfect inventory.
- Attend trade shows
- Find goods at local events
- Look for industrial business parks
- Discover floral wholesale suppliers
- Check U.S. state or non U.S. country agriculture sites
- Search for specialty food organizations
- Visit retailers selling packaged foods (then find the manufacturer online)
- See what’s at wholesale clubs (then find manufacturers online)
- Research permanent wholesale trade marts
- Look at product labels in retail stores (then find the manufacturer online)
- Conduct an online search for local suppliers
In which of these places will you begin finding products that are worthy of your gift basket designs and the people who receive them?
