Facebook recently announced it is closing its Gift Shop to focus on other aspects of its business. This raises two interesting points for any gift company;
- Can a business simply add a range of gifts to it’s product set?
- What is involved in doing this and can it be done successfully?
At Hampering Around we would argue the answer to both is no. Simply adding gifts to a business and calling yourself a gift business is not easy, particularly when you consider what is required behind the scenes (which goes to point number 2). The truly successful gift companies are those are built on passion, expertise and dedication to gifting, not where the gift range is an afterthought.
Christmas starts early for us, we begin compiling our product range in May each year and finalise it by the end of August (when our range is presented on our website).
Many of our clients call us to discuss their requirements, both large and small. When working with our clients we suggest they start with the following;
- What is the reason for giving a gift?
- Who is the gift for?
- What is the desired price/budget for the gift?
- What does the recipient like/dislike? Or do you have a preferred style?
- Should the gift include alcohol? For instance we do many non alcoholic gifts.
- Is the gift for one person or a group of people?
- Do you wish to include a keepsake item in the gift?
- Where does the gift need to be sent? This can dictate packaging/presentation and style.
- Do you have a message for the gift?
If you have any other suggestions on things you consider as part of choosing a gift please post a comment below, we’d love to hear from you.
We are currently developing a small range of Celebrity Chef gifts. With the recent success of Masterchef, various restaurant openings and the general publics interest in good quality food we believe it would be a very complimentary addition to our business. We are already in the business of high quality, gourmet products and this would fit nicely with our business and its values.
There is several criteria that we are working to, everything from packaging appeal through to usability ie. could someone actually use what is in our gift to make something special.
We would welcome any feedback or comments on this idea as it would help us better formulate our range and offering.
As part of our continual market research we recently saw an article on Celebrity Gifts that reinforced to us the variety of items that can be included in a gift. We receive client requests for gifts from $20 to $2000 each and each one poses it own challenge to provide something that is unique and meets the clients requirements.
Often we find the biggest challenge in our business is explaining to the client what we can do is really only limited by their ability to articulate what they are looking for. Based on the range of suppliers and partners we have, we can do almost anything. Often it is easier to start by discussing what we don’t do. The gifts mentioned in the article above are a great example of a more upmarket and expensive gift.
Every company I know talks about how good their customer service is yet we rarely hear about what goes on behind the scenes to deliver this. We view customer service as every action that goes into delivering to our clients a really great gift, as well as their interaction with our customer service team. This for us starts the moment the client contacts us. We see our customer service including;
Forms that our customer service team use to document client requirements and details. This ensures we understand what the client wants, clarifies any details and helps ensure our preparation team know what is required of them.
Gathering all the correct client details ie. delivery address, gift card message etc.. This helps us ensure, no mistakes and if any are made, they can be rectified quickly.
Helping the client select the correct gift for their occasion and the recipient. Most of our clients purchase from us because they want something different and/or convenient. We take great pride in helping clients determine the right gift for their occasion with the correct sentiment.
Our internal production process. We have a rigorous quality control process, this includes monitoring food use by dates, packaging styles and preparation standards that our staff are measured to.
Delivery of the gift, we carefully select all our courier companies and work closely with them to ensure the gift is delivered in the same condition that it left our warehouse.
Whilst the above might not be a normal summary of customer service, we really do see customer service as a continual behaviour right across our business, in everything we do.
