Over the years of selling gift products I have noticed on particular area that is critical to selling to gift shops: Appropriate pricing! Each gift shop can be different, but shops often follow certain criteria when purchasing and pricing gift items.
First and most important, most gift store buyers ‘keystone’ or double the wholesale price of products retailed in their stores. This is standard practice in the Gift Industry. If you are selling your items on your website or at shows to the general public for $10, gift stores will expect to buy them for no more than $5 to $6. Retail shops need to make money too, so don’t expect any less from them!
If you are unable to wholesale your products for less than half of retail price, you have a few options:
1. Raise your retail price. You may be selling your items too cheap!
2. Take a look at your costs figures per item and see where you may be able to cut. Often, if you are making an item in larger quantities, for instance, your per unit cost will be cheaper.
3. Re-work your product in a manner where you can reduce costs
Appropriate pricing also relates to each individual gift shop. Some shops feature a wide range of priced products, and some shops feature specific price ranges. You will want to find a store that has other products in the same general price range. Generally, souvenir gift shops or specialty food stores sell products in the $2 to $20 range. (Of course there are exceptions to this amount – this is just a general figure). Higher end gift shops may sell products that are over $100 or more! Find a shop that has similar lines as your own products before attempting to sell to them.
Once again, these suggestions are based on generally accepted procedures in gift shops. You may find different circumstances for your products.
NOTE: We (my husband Malcolm and I) are in the middle of some of the busiest times of the year for our business. Because of that, my posts may not be always be on Wednesday. I will do my best to post weekly though!
