There are various ways to sell your baskets. You can sell to family, friends, and co-workers. You can go to arts & craft shows, flea markets, and various events and rent a booth. You can open your own on-line store and be completely web-based. Before making a commitment, examine your personality, your lifestyle, and your time availability to making these ventures work for you. Are you a real people person who loves to be face to face with the public? If so, then you should look into craft/trade shows. Do you have a stronger presence over the telephone? Then maybe being strictly a web-based business is more your speed. Maybe you're a stay-at-home mom with little ones at home and only have time late at night to be creative; consignment shops may be just what you're looking for. Let's examine a couple of the ways that you can profitably sell your baskets and stay in business.
Consignment Shops-Consignment shops are a great way for gift basket businesses to sell their baskets and not have to invest a great deal of time and money. You place your baskets in the consignment shop and when your baskets sell, you get a percentage and the shop gets a percentage. One word of caution: shop around before making a commitment to a consignment shop. Make sure that you are getting a reasonable split. You can't make money if most of it is going to the shop owner.
Visit the shop several times, varying the day and time, to see how the business is doing. While visiting, look around. What type of items does the shop carry and will gift baskets fit in with the overall look and feel of the shop? What type of customers frequent the shop? Are they bargain hunters, or are they the type of customer who is looking for unique and unusual gift items that cannot be found at the local mall?
On the positive side, you don't own the store so you have no rent to pay and no expenses. The only thing that you have to do is create beautiful baskets and place them in the shop. You do, however, have to make sure that you keep accurate records. Don't depend on the shop owner to do it for you; after all, this is still your business. Always know what you have on display, how much the selling price is, and how long it's going to be on display. If a basket hasn't sold within a specific period of time, what is the mark down rate, and will that still leave you room to make a profit? Most importantly, when will you be receiving your check for baskets sold?
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