Darlene asks:

“I am writing a business plan and I wanted to know if there are any Trade Publications, Trade Organizations or Associations that I can get information about the Gift Basket industry?”

There is no definitive place to find gift basket industry facts. Reports have been issued in the past through various magazines, but those reports do not provide a complete snapshot about the many individuals and corporations making gift baskets.

The main stumbling block in creating an industry report is that participating firms are privately owned. They are not required to report their income to anyone outside of the Internal Revenue Service or other governmental agency outside of the U.S.

For U.S.-based firms, the IRS is neither in the position nor obligated to compile this information for us.

I’ve done extensive research to locate information dating back to 1913, which I documented in The Gift Basket Design Book. I’ve also compiled data from an assortment of publications including Specialty Food, Gourmet News, and Gifts & Decorative Accessories.

While those publications did a splendid job at giving us an industry view, the data did not uncover information from all angles. It could not because of the above-stated boundary.

My suggestion is to plan your business according to regional information which is available your county’s administration office.

• How many people live in the area (population)?
• How many established businesses exist (corporate sales potential)?
• How many hotels and conference centers exist, and how many more are planned (out of town sales potential)?

The answers to these questions and others that uncover the town “makeup” and future plans tell you whether or not a gift basket business will not just survive but how quickly it will thrive.

If you wait for an industry report, you’ll never start, and that’s not an option.

[tags]gift basket, gift baskets, gift basket statistics, gift basket industry[/tags]

© 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.

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