Creating Successful Gift Basket & Gourmet Food Shop Promotions (Part 5)

Other Promotion Ideas for Gift Basket Companies & Gourmet Gift Shops

    "If you want to be a successful gourmet food or gift basket retailer,
   find a niche and fill it"

Over the years when we've asked some of our most successful gift basket packers and gourmet food store operators what they thought was the reason was why they were so successful, we almost always get the same responses.  One of the most common reasons cited is that it's because they regularly promote their business, their products and their unique and specialized services. In short, "the secret of their success" could likely be summarized as follows:

            Promote ! Promote ! Promote !

There are innumerable methods of promoting your gift basket business or gourmet gift shop other than having a sale.  When selecting the optimal method for your gourmet or gift basket business, however, it is critical to always bear in mind the image that you are developing for your business and what type of customer you are attempting to attract.  Obviously, you will need to be very selective in the scope of promotions and promotional activities that you coordinate.  In all likelihood, you'll probably discover that different types of promotions are required to reach certain components of your overall target market.  However, as long as each of these activities is consistent with your overall marketing image, there is nothing wrong with conducting several promotions simultaneously.  Obviously, your own energy level, time constraints and financial budget will all have an impact as well.  However, some of the most successful gourmet food and gift basket promotions that we have seen and been involved with were not that difficult to set up, nor were they prohibitively expensive.

If you have a promotion idea for your gift basket business or gourmet food shop and would like us to help you with it, please telephone us at 1-800-2670805, extension 22 and a Customer Service Representative will be pleased to discuss it with you further.  Or, you can email us with your idea at wholesale@epicureanfoods.com and we'll get right back to you with our thoughts.


Coupons

Depending on the location of your gift basket or gourmet gift shop, and the image that you are attempting to convey, coupons can either be a useful tool and appropriate way or promoting your business or be somewhat inappropriate and ineffective.  Coupons are a reasonably efficient way of testing how effective some of your print advertising has been (since the consumer must present the coupon to receive his discount).  They can be distributed in several ways, including direct mail, print ads or even door-to-door in selected neighborhoods.  However, they are somewhat inappropriate for very high-end gift stores in particular, as they may seem to be inconsistent with the rest of the image of the store.  They also are not really helpful for gift shops or gourmet food stores that rely heavily on tourists or "walk-up" traffic and as such, should normally be avoided in those situations.

One of the most efficient ways to have your coupons distributed (particularly to those market segments that you have specifically targeted) is via companies that specialize in delivering coupons.  Often, they can provide a complete service, from the layout and design of your coupon to its printing and insertion in a mail packet (an assortment of coupons non-competitive companies).  Another highly efficient way to distribute the coupons is to simply place one in your company's shopping bag as the customer pays for her current purchase.  Obviously, the coupons can only be used for future visits to the store.

Phyllis and Greg Sprout began their company, epicureanfoods.com, in July 1993.  They specialize in supplying hard-to-find gourmet foods and gift basket supplies to gourmet shops, gift shops and gift basket companies across North America. 

They have helped the founders of literally thousands of gift, gourmet food and gift basket companies start and grow their businesses.  Many of these companies remain excellent customers of epicureanfoods.com today.  They can be reached at phyllisandgreg@epicureanfoods.com.