Are You Missing Out? Gift Baskets for Customers Are Not a Thing of the Past
Posted by Julie Rotuno on 14th Jun 2022
We know you’re always looking for new ideas to infuse into your business – and that might just mean taking advantage of social media marketing, revamping your packaging designs, or even deciding whether or not to add gift baskets for customers.
That final point is of particular interest to us, and as you’ll soon see, should be to you as well.
Do you know all the facts? Have you heard about just how popular gift baskets are? According to data analyzed by marketing guru Brandon Gaille, the gifting industry is valued at over $3 billion.
Yes, you heard that right. 3. Billion. Dollars.
In a fast-paced, often digital world, where face-to-face interactions are harder and harder to come by in both the personal and professional lives of your consumers, custom gift baskets allow your shoppers to show the important people in their lives that they took the time to curate something special, something tailored to that special someone’s specific likes and interests. (And hey, even if they didn’t, it’s your job as a retailer to come up with several different basket options to make it look like they did).
The Advantages of the Gift Basket Format
Offering gift baskets for customers don’t mean you have to constantly reinvent the wheel. In fact, 70% of gift basket sales come from already-designed options, which means a lot of consumers are relying on your brand to put together the perfect basket for them. Though it may seem like a lot of pressure, it actually works to your advantage. Why?
First of all, you know your products best. You know which ones will travel well, which ones will last long, and which ones appeal to a wide range of your customers.
Secondly, you also know which products you’ve over-estimated on, and gift baskets can provide an easy and effective way of clearing excess stock.
Finally, gift baskets for customers are also a great way to gain new customers who may not have found out about your business from social media or word of mouth. By selecting your most popular and highest quality items (even if you decide to include a smaller, sample size), you’ve made sure that a new potential customer is getting the very best product your brand has to offer.
Let Gift Baskets Help You Out During the Holidays
Gift baskets are most often given during the classic high peak holiday seasons. And again, the format itself means you can put together some “essentials” for your customers that will last them through the next month, season, or even year. For example, if you run a shop selling tools and hardware, your customers may not automatically think of shopping at your store for, say, Valentine’s Day. But, creating and then advertising, for example, a “Fix-It Basket” containing tools to help in common home problems makes for a perfect gift that, best of all, customers will actually use.
Keep in mind, too, that, according to Gaille, 40% of the gift basket industry comes from the corporate sector, or business-to-business relationships. That means your shoppers are often looking for ways to honor business relationships they’ve built over the year, but they may not know people well enough on a personal level to successfully pick out a holiday gift for them. A gift basket provides the perfect solution for any clients you may have who work within the business sector – helping you to score larger, more long-term clients who will reorder from your store every holiday season.
Gift Baskets for Customers Allow You to Strengthen Your Brand
Think about it: when a customer buys a gift basket from your store, especially if that gift basket is ordered online, they’re going to expect you to handle everything from picking out what goes inside to the packaging itself. You should be sure to take advantage of this great opportunity to build your brand! When customers allow you to wrap their gifts for them, that means you can use the chance to add customized retail packaging. Pick up some logo-printed or color tissue paper that matches your brand, or some some festive cello gift basket bags and shreds to make your baskets really pop! Most importantly, don’t forget to have some gift basket wrapping supplies on hand, like a shrinker gun and an impulse sealer.
When customers give you the opportunity to wrap their gifts for them, make sure you’re making the most out of what should be seen as an amazing branding opportunity. You might even add a few custom promotional marketing inserts to tell recipients a little bit more about your company, as well as to alert them to any social media accounts your company runs.
It’s pretty much impossible to deny the obvious fact: gift baskets for customers are hardly a thing of the past – in fact, they may be just the thing to help revamp lagging sales or your marketing strategy.
Do you have gift basket ideas or questions you’d like to share with us? Want to come up with your own themed basket for your company? We’d love to hear from you!
