Marcelle asks,

“I would like to display some of my baskets with local businesses to see if they would sell. What would be the best approach to this, and if I were to sell some of my baskets, what method of payment from the consumer would be best since by business has not been formally established yet.”

When I entered this business in 1990, the most-popular way of selling gift baskets with local businesses was through consignment. This entailed:

1) showing the shop owner/manager gift baskets that would be sold in the shop,
2) crafting an agreement that protected the gift baskets while out of your care, and
3) collecting payment at month’s end (or whatever time frame was chosen) for the baskets that sold.

Today, many designers sell their gift baskets outright to shop owners. They do so by:

1) Creating about six different gift basket designs to offer to another retailer. Buying nested baskets are often good for this type of designing, which you’ll learn about on this page.

2) Determining a wholesale price for selling them to shop owners, which is a price that not only allows you to make a profit when selling them outright but also lets the shop mark them up again before placing them on the sales floor.

So, the method you choose to display your gift baskets with local businesses is up to you. If you can sell outright to a retailer and not have to come back to fix gift baskets that have been mangled by their customers, that’s usually the better deal.

I understand that this option is not always open, so if selling on consignment, create an agreement that gives you the largest profit percentage possible. Check on your baskets regularly, and in time you’ll learn which ones sell faster so that those designs are the only ones offered to their customers.

© 2008-2010 Shirley George Frazier. All rights reserved. Shirley George Frazier is recognized as the leading authority on the gift basket industry. She is author of How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business, The Gift Basket Design Book, and Marketing Strategies for the Home-Based Business. Visit GiftBasketBusiness.com for videos, CDs, reports, tips, online newsletter, and much more to learn, grow, and profit with gift baskets.