I don’t know about you, but frequently, when I’m looking for something like a housewarming gift or a new baby gift, I look to see if there are good gift baskets available. Who doesn’t love receiving a lovely assortment of gifts? And of course, that means finding a gift basket business. Do you love putting together gift baskets and are considering making it into a business? Here are some things to know when starting a gift basket business.
Setup a Business Structure
Like any business, when you’re starting a gift basket business, you will want to setup a business structure. Every good business starts with a plan. What do you want to do? What is your market going to be? What kinds of baskets are you going to put together? How are you going to market your business and where are you going to get the startup funds for your business?
You will also have to decide how to setup your business. The easiest way is a sole proprietorship, meaning you as the owner. In many states, you don’t even need to register your business, you can just pay any taxes using your Social Security Number. You can also setup an LLC, which removes any liability from you personally and protects your assets. If you’re working with a partner, you’ll definitely want to put together an official partnership so that each of you is protected should your business not go as planned.
How are you going to deliver? Local delivery only or will you be shipping your baskets nationally or worldwide? Note that if you’re going to include alcohol, that will likely change how you are able to deliver.
Make sure that you also setup a good accounting structure. How are you going to track your income and expenses?
What Will Your Niche Be When Starting a Gift Basket Business?
While it might be tempting to put together any sort of gift baskets, you will likely have more customers if you create a niche for yourself. Maybe you put together baskets of local products or hard to find products. Maybe you focus on certain types of celebrations, like birthday baskets or anniversary baskets or holiday baskets.
You may be able to work out some deals with local artisans if you want to put together baskets of local products. Even if they can’t provide you with much of a discount on their wares, they may be able to offer advertising on their sites if you use their products. It never hurts to get your name out.
Source Your Materials and Build Samples
You’ll want to be sure that you’re putting together a high quality products. Where are you going to get your baskets or boxes? How are you going to package your items? You can’t just think about the items in the basket, but the presentation and packaging are also going to be critical. But you also don’t want to spend too much on the packaging, or you will price out your buyers.
Put together a number of samples of your work and take high quality photographs of them. You’ll want to build a variety of baskets, but make sure that you can replicate them. Don’t use more expensive items in your advertising and then sell less pricey items.
Build Your Website and Get the Word Out
Nowadays, many sales happen through websites. Build a simple website. You can offer ordering on your website or have options for buyers to contact you to purchase. Setup social media sites, everything from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok. You could even research the best site to buy TikTok likes and give your business an initial boost if needs be. You would be surprised how many small businesses do well on TikTok. Offer to donate baskets to local charitable fundraisers, like raffles or silent auctions. Let your friends and family know about your business and ask them to help spread the word as well. Many successful small businesses have started by word of mouth.
Read More on Starting a Gift Basket Business:
- Common Small Business Mistakes Made Early On
- Deductions for Small Businesses Every Tax Professional Should Know
- Should I Start a Small Business
Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
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