Hi everyone,my mother %26amp; I opened a gift basket business, primarily home %26amp; internet based last year. While we have had some sales, it has not been enough to keep us going.Most of our supplies expired and we are out of money to try to keep going. While we bought enough supplies to make a nice variety of baskets, we didnt go completely overboard...or so we thought. We thought we were doing everything right but I guess not.We have talked to other owners on forums like this one and it seemed as if we were doing the same things.We marketed the business in local newspapers, attended a tradeshow (home tradeshow...maybe not the best type to attend?), did a couple radio ads, handed out promotional pieces at major events and walks, donated to other events, did presentations at real estate office, etc.We have even priced our baskets below what most business are asking for so I cant see the price being the problem.We took out about a $10,000 loan and its all gone and we barely made 1/4 back.
Can I save my failed gift basket business?
Sounds like you have a good general approach to business, but you're ignoring your market.
Who buys your products? Where are they located? How can they find you?
The problem with home based and web based is the trouble in being found, visibility is low for both, especially the web.
If you want to sell using e-commerce try selling on ebay, it already has the traffic. Think about ebay as being a mall full of people, and your website is just a random place on a random street. Point is you have to advertise a lot more to get people to even see where you are, whereas through ebay you get the people just "walking by" as it were.
The same goes for real world. Have you considered branching out of your home? How are people to find you there? Do most people feel comfortable just stopping in at someone's home to get a gift basket made, or do they feel more comfortable at a mall for instance?
One great place for your product that'd probably be lower cost is a flea or farmer's market. People go there for handmade stuff, authentic stuff, which is what you have to offer, with the added bonus of it being customizable.
So my advice is that if you're gonna go further, go all out. Branch out of your home and out of your website on the web. You can still maintain both.
Get a stall at a flea or farmer's market, have a bunch of pre-made gift baskets and also supplies to make one up and offer easy customization. Then get an account on ebay and sell pre-made gift baskets there.
So your business is fairly good, but your locations are wrong. You need the foot traffic, both real world, and online. Without that natural traffic you end up trying way too hard to bring them to you, rather than just letting them find you.
Reply:I'm sorry you are dealing with this issue. This too shall pass.
Almost all businesses take at least 3-5 years to end up profitable. An initial investment is always required but the source can be varied. You chose a loan. Loans should be last on the list of funding sources. An individual as well as a business needs leveraged income. Money coming from as many places as possible to fund the business and maintain or eliminate debt.
Now that you are in the weeds what can be done.......hmmmm. HERE WE GO!!!!
1) Go back to your customers and offer them a special deal on a new order.
2) Go back to your customers and offer a referral fee.
3) Find a legitimate business that allows you to leverage your time to acquire additional income. Check my source below as an option. Ill be glad to help you.
4) Ask the loan source to defer your payments for a few months.
5) Your family members that want to see you succeed (and believe me not all of them do) will help you be referring your service and/or making a purchase.
6) Go to the people you spend your money with and ask them to spend money with you.
7)Have a garage sale: I made about $1000 on mine.
8) Offer something other than flowers. Add cookies to your list of products.
I have more but I have to run. Check my source below and I will be happy to help you work toward getting your business back on track.
Reply:I know the business is already running, but maybe you should read up on Business Startups. I think that by evaluating want is going on, it will be easier to correct the problem. This site has info on the topic. Hope it helps
http://articles.directorym.com/Business_...
Reply:Are you working with a banker? Maybe they can give you some ideas. Have you talked to the Chamber of Commerce. Again, maybe they know some likely customers or have ideas. Are there any street fairs or craft shows in your town? Is there a chapter of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)? Maybe those guys could give you some free help.
Reply:I do not have your answers.... but from experience, don't hang on too long unless you have the finances to handle possibly years of income losses. Don't convince yourself that the next month is going to change, because you will continue losing. If the financial statements aren't good and you've given it enough time, get out.... and don't think of it as failure.
Reply:I have my own painting and remodeling business. I still have to work a full time job, to keep the business going. I would say you may need to down size. The economy is not at it's best and instead of buying a lot of supplies you may need to purchase supplies as you need them to prevent items from expiring. Have you thought of merging with a local flower shop, or hospital gift store. You can display and sell some items there and give them a certain percent back. How about proceed baskets? Find out what topic is hot and go with it. Example: There is a family member in and out of treatment for cancer. Someone goes to buy a basket for the person. Lets say they buy a specifically made basket that when they purchased it, a donation was made to the American Cancer Society. Basket costs $40 to make, you retail it for $80, you donate $10 to Cancer. You profit $30. Just some ideas. Hope it all works out and just keep trying.
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