Gift Wrapping - does this increase sales

[SillyJokes]

I am occasionally asked to gift wrap goods.

Does any body offer this as an extra - is it worth while in extra sales or just a pain?

Would it be worth investigating the quickest and best way to do this?

I am worried that at key times when we have so much business that we struggle to get it all out on time staff members could get tied up with ribbon and paper.

[Jayne]

I think you can get fancy boxes with bows already on, all you would have to do is box them and stick down the lid. I think it is a good idea, especially for men customers who seem to hate wrapping things.

I got my Birthday prezzy in a carrier bag yesterday, think that says it all :lol:

Jayne

[Rob Holmes]

I would prefer to buy everything gift wrapped - I hate wrapping.

Rob

[SillyJokes]

Hmm, interesting, but how much would you be prepared to pay for it? How good does it have to be?

Our products vary so much in size and shape.

I was thinking for having a variety of beautiful bags, a sheet of colour coordinated tissue and seal the thing with a custom printed sticker, perhaps with a label on a string stuck under it.

But would you expect to pay £2, £3, £4 for this per parcel wrapped?

[Cornish Steve]

One big toy store in the US offers gift-wrapping for free. It's a real incentive to frequent the store. If your child is going to a birthday party, buy the present, have it wrapped, and go straight to the party.

Over Christmas, I noticed a table set up at the entrance of a huge bookstore. Band members from a local school were offering a gift-wrapping service in return for donations for the band fund. They were swamped with people paying them a couple of dollars a go to wrap presents.

For the customer, gift-wrapping is very convenient. For the retailer, though, it's not easy because customers soon expect it for free. It's time-consuming, so you have to recover your costs somehow. I'm sure it increases business, but it increases overhead too.

Following up on the bookstore observation, could you make the cost more palatable by donating half the charge to a charity (toys to sick kids, for example)? Presumably there's some tax benefit to doing this.

[bitsnstuff]

When buying online, I like to see the item before I wrap it and give it to someone else, just it case it is not what I expected or broken, etc.

Kate :lol:

[quotes4]

If its being delivered to someone else (say to mum on mothers day) then it would be ideal if it could be sent wrapped.
I've done this a few times and it's been a real bonus for the recipient to have it wrapped.

[SillyJokes]

Kate you make a great point about seeing the gift first, but if it is something that you have received yourself in the past then that is not so much of an issue.

Gold Steve, I shall have to look about and see how many merchants offer it for free, how many charge and what amount. I had just hoped that someone on here could actually put their hand up and say, Yes, gift wrapping increased our business by 5% and we charge x (or don't charge) for it.

Funnily enough we donated a lot of ribbon at Christmas to the Radcliff Hospital in Oxford to do a charity present wrap at a book store for one of their departments. I hope they made good money.

I can't see us giving gift wrapping away free however because it will be most requested at a time when we will be under the most pressure to perform.

I do like the charity idea but have no idea about tax implications or otherwise. Perhaps as long as we cover cost this would be ok but as I keep saying, it is possible we would have to take on another member of staff at Xmas just to wrap parcels which would be a big overhead, plus start a new packing table, plus the extra weight of the packing in the parcel.

Stilll, if was easy, everyone would do it.

[Rob Holmes]

Hmm, interesting, but how much would you be prepared to pay for it? How good does it have to be?

I'd say per item around 10% with a minimum cost of £1 and I'd need it sealed but fairly poor quality so my family thought I'd wrapped it up myself.

Maybe you could charge extra for making it look 'personally' wrapped instead of wrapped by a roboit and too perfect.

Rob

[Astaroth]

10%?! Surely it is size dependant not cost- bought the missus a necklass for xmas and had free gift wrapping - no way would I have paid 10% (about £200) for gift wrapping.

I have to say that if you are a mail order company then gift wrapping isnt going to be as big an attraction for most types of items. Personally I would want to see the item myself to make sure it wasnt damaged/ broken. I always get presents to my own address so that I can write the gift tag/ attach a card etc (with the exception of flowers) so having the ability to have it sent direct to the recepient gift wrapped wouldnt be a selling point for me.

[YEM]

I used to work in a very well known high street card shop. The gift wrapping service was free, they only paid for the giftwrap - so it was as cheap or as expensive as the person wanted!

[fastfences]

Hi there.
The time factor is most important. If staff are too busy wrapping for a pound instead of selling for £10.00 there'll be a problem. I experienced this in Thornton's recently where staff were so engaged in the wrapping, customers were neglected. I, and others, left the shop without a purchase.
Cheers, Nigel

[silverpuresilver]

Hi Silly Jokes

On a personal level, I prefer to have the gift delivered to me, so as others have said, I can check its in perfect order.

However, we do offer a giftwrapping service on our website. We charge £3.50 for it, customers do ask for it, but not in numbers that keep us tied up in ribbon all day.

I think it's probably going to be more of a time issue than a cost issue. Boxes are ok, but it depends on the general size of items that you sell, storing them may become more of an issue!!!

If you have to wrap them in paper (as opposed to bags), cutting / biting the sellotape is a pain in the a***. Try Lakeland Limited for their little sticky circles - they're a blessing!!

Karen

[babybiz]

I send out all my items gift wrapped as standard, just basic gift wrapping with tissue paper and a bow but the feedback I get is very good. However I wouldn't say it has increased sales in itself but along with the other things I do pamper my customers it's clear they really appreciate it. I get many recommendations and customers are thrilled to bits, a good number have emailed or even phoned to say how excited they were!!

I don't charge because when I've used stores like boots or amazon where you can pay to have it giftwrapped I get miffed that they charge £1.50 or whatever for a bow and a bit of paper. You can buy a whole roll for that!!! Having said that it is clear people will pay so it's well worth offering it as an extra service and as a figure if you're going to charge I'd say £1 or £1.50 but not more.

Tashxx

[Whistle Ink]

I like the idea, esp for high value items. But you would have to offer a selection of wrapping paper? Some people are fussy so might want to know what it look like.

Cost wise I would pay max £1.99 for wrapping per gift but defo no more than that.

It's not something to would really make me buy but knowing that was available and if allowed to send it direct to the 'special' person maybe with a han written tag - might be tempting!! :D

[MarkPearson]

I don't see a problem with you adding a wrapping service to your checkout and charging a few pounds for it.

It can be a nice option that people can either leave or take.

By advertising that:
'We offer a Gift Wrapping service'

This can only be good if you actually sell gifts, especially if people want the items delivered directly to the recipient.

[SillyJokes]

You are right Mark, wrapping up a few prezzies can hardly be too much trouble....

only a blinking NIGHTMARE when suddenly 20% of your Christmas orders have to be done at a time when your staff have hardly got time to wipe their noses because they have got a mountain of orders to get out of the door that same day.

There are always implications with everything that you do.

Now you really have me worried about how you are going to handle Valentines Day ;)

[vdeep.com]

I know people are mentioning that when they order items they like to see them first, or they would want to choose the paper, one must remember gift wrapping when available is optional, you don’t have to have it.

I think gift wrapping can be a good incentive and can win you customers, if your product is available at a competitor and all things are equal except that you offer gift wrapping then there is a strong possibility that you will win custom.

If possible it could be good to offer the service for free and add a small charge around busy periods of the year.

I would try and keep the cost as low as possible and like I mentioned us it as an incentive. Its all about winning customers.

PS. I would have an image example of your gift wrapping, i.e what the box/paper looks like when wrap on a product.

[MarkPearson]

You are right Mark, wrapping up a few prezzies can hardly be too much trouble....

only a blinking NIGHTMARE when suddenly 20% of your Christmas orders have to be done at a time when your staff have hardly got time to wipe their noses because they have got a mountain of orders to get out of the door that same day.

There are always implications with everything that you do.

Now you really have me worried about how you are going to handle Valentines Day ;)

As the title of the thread says, "would a gift wrapping option increase sales"

Then I think, yes it may.

It may well increase sales all year around as people then have the option to order from you and send some of the products directly to friends and family as gifts.

This option is enhanced when you offer gift wrapping, so I really think sales would increase.

If you have an all year round increase in sales and it makes your 'busy periods' even busier, then maybe getting a few extra staff to wrap might be worth considering.

The extra small fees from the optional wrapping service would cover the costs of the wrapping products and maybe also pay the extra staff wages?

[Amber]

I love stores that offer gift wrapping. Last week I was looking online for a gift for a friend who lives at the other end of the country, and one of the key factors for me was that the store had to offer a gift wrapping service. I think I paid something like £3.50 in the end, which was much less than it would have cost me to drive to the shops, buy wrapping paper, drive home, wrap the present, drive to the post office, queue and post. I just don't have the time right now, and also, I'm lazy :)

[gary]

We considered adding gift wrapping for Christmas last year, but our products are just plain awkward to wrap so it would be time-consuming and costly (in terms of extra wages) to offer it. Surprisingly no-one even asked for it (though they did the year before), though we did include messages if that was requested (which was also very few). If we opted for gift boxes instead of wrapping to make it easier, the postage costs increased considerably, so that wasn't worthwhile either. When I have figured out a solution for this I will probably offer it as an option for a while to see what the response is.

[Claire B]

Surely it won't do any harm to offer the service. I think a charge of £2 - £3 would be ok and people could either take it or leave it.

I order online all the time and most of the time I don't ask for gift wrapping, but when I do need it, it's a godsend!

I would go for a quality gift wrap or tissue paper and charge appropriately.