Is this a service you would use?

[wildwildsouth]

I've inherited quite a bit of money and am planning to open my own business within the next couple of years. I have a few ideas but this one I feel is genius. However, people I speak to in real life about it don't seem that impressed.

My idea is a shop that does wrapping. It would sell lots of wrapping paper, sellotape, scissors etc but on top of that it would offer a wrapping service.

So someone could come in one gift and ask to have it wrapped really nicely with ribbons and bows etc. Or someone could come in with their full Christmas presents needing wrapped. Maybe the ones they have for their kids from Santa, they might choose just a basic wrap which would cost less etc.

There would be trolleys etc near the entrance for people with lots of things needing wrapped.

Is that a service you would use?

I have a bit of a policy of not paying for services I could easily do myself however I do think some people would pay for that.

I don’t think you would need premises though, this is something you could do out of your home. No way would you make a profit if you had all the overheads of an actual shop!

Sadly a no from me, too.
The risks of having stuff lost, and the hassle of delivering or collecting is too great.

No. Plenty of shops sell all the wrapping, ribbons, cards etc I could want.
Jewellers and department stores and smart retailers already offer wrapping services.

Taking all the Xmas presents to you would need me to stand there while you list all of them with description, recipient name for each (for the labels) proof of value,(because you're going to have to insure them against loss, theft, damage, aren't you?). Then I go away. Then I come back later to collect; and check the number, and drag them all home again. (god help you if your wrappers got the labelling wrong, so Granny opens a vibrator on Xmas day).

 I could do it muyself in less time and   far more conveniently at home, listening to music and  enjoying a glass of wine.

Nanny RAnother good idea would be to use environmentally friendly wrapping as your USP, paper tape and string, recycled or repurposed paper, reusable cloth gift bags, that sort of thing.

Hey, I'm already providing a service just like that but I never get paid...

I have twice bought gifts which were gift wrapped in the store and also purchased things online which were gift wrapped and sent to the person I bought for.

Why not buy a card shop which will include wrapping paper, stationery and a few other things.

There's one down the road to me and it's lovely.

Good luck.

I’ve done this for charity at Christmas. We set up a stall and it was 50p per gift, people could bring their own paper or for an extra 50p we would provide the paper. It was quite popular, but it had to be a “while you wait” service because we couldn’t take responsibility for people leaving their gifts with us.

We wrapped about 500 gifts per day which raised about £250. That’s working as volunteers - if we’d been paid min wage we’d have made a loss of a couple of hundred pounds. I reckon if you charged £1 per gift you’d approx match what you’d earn in a min wage job. But a min wage job would be more reliable.

This response @Bananaman123 made me actually LOL

It’s like the recipe online comments that say “this recipe really works!!! - just add x, change y, adjust z and swap the main ingredient to something else, they always give me the

Basically excellent idea OP if you just change it to being a gift shop.

Sorry perverse sense of humour.

*What price point op? I would buy the items and would like to see nice stationery and maybe some gifts as well in the shop. Not bath and body but maybe jewellery, trinkets, reusable items like shopping bags, beeswax for food wrap etc.

I like wrapping though so would buy bits but probably not the service unless it was cheap enough*

The one way I could see this working is as an online service. People order their gifts sent to you and then you wrap and post to recipient. With so many people ordering last minute gifts online this could work. However I think it would be too pricy for the majority.

The gift I buy are few but expensive. I wouldn't want to risk having a games console wrapped up, in case it's been replaced by a bag of sand. That would make a terrible Christmas! Also you may get shoppers who claimed this happened but did it themselves to claim off your insurance. You'd have to be a pop up shop in a shopping centre and they'd have to wait while you wrap.

I’ve seen this done as a charity fundraiser but the basic prices were quite cheap — from £1 for plain wrapping a small box or toy to I think £5 for something very large and awkward shaped. Most people rounded up or threw in a few extra pounds when they paid because it was for a good cause. In order to run a business you would have to charge way more than that and you would have to use high-end materials and offer unusual choices. Between my family of five plus extended family, friends, teachers and others we buy for it is not unusual for me to buy 40+ gifts of varying shapes and sizes. You would probably have to charge at a minimum £200 for wrapping. We are financially comfortable but that’s a lot. We are also trying to minimize all of the waste so we reuse gift bags and the kids decorate sliced open paper shopping bags and sheets of newspaper although that last bit might not work for everyone. I think my parents are the last people on earth who still reads news in print! Doing it ourselves is a pain and most certainly doesn’t look as nice but I would rather spend the extra £200 on gifts or better yet give it to charity.

I could see spending up to maybe £6 for special wrapping as a one-off for a big occasion party like my best friend’s baby shower but only if it was very convenient and cost maybe £6 at most.

I like this idea but whether or not I would actually use the service would greatly depend on how much it costs.

I’d think maybe 2 or 3 ‘levels’ would work, e.g. basic wrap, something special, or luxury. Just because then you might attract more people with different budgets.

I don’t think anyone would make a special trip for the service but I could certainly see people popping in to get their purchase wrapped before they head home. Christmas time would certainly be busier - if the quality was good my FIL would definitely use the service after his Christmas shopping sprees.

I’ve seen wrapping services pop up at Christmas time but these were run for charities. So the wrap options were basic and I imagine the staff were volunteers and prices kept low. The service was always busy but the ‘doing something for charity’ might have been a big incentive for some customers. This was a pop-up in a busy shopping centre.

I’m not sure how you would get enough custom outside of Christmas time. I buy gifts throughout the year but not always in the same town (and it’s often online), so I’d be concerned that the chances of your service being in the right place at the right time, might be too small, if that makes sense.

No. I don't care enough about presents looking perfect to actually pay for it.

No sorry

A friend of mine who has a flower shop offers this service too at Christmas time, but only as an extra. She does have quite a few customers who have used it, but definitely not a lot! She wraps beautifully but it comes up pricy.

I personally wouldn't pay because:

1. I try to limit my impulse spending
2. I love wrapping!

It’s not a service I would use.

I imagine it would be a very seasonal market and think that a mobile service might be more feasible - book a time and I’ll park up near your house and wrap Christmas stockings or whatever.

I personally wouldn’t as I love wrapping presents. Having said that I would have used it the year my mum passed away and I hadn’t wrapped ANY of my 3 children’s Christmas presents. My daughters birthday was 2 days after my mum passed and then Christmas 3 days after that so would have bitten your hand off then but would’ve been short notice...23/24th December so possibly would get a huge demand for last minute wrapping for those who haven’t had time etc.
I have had lots of conversations with parents over the last few years who have said they would love to be able to pay someone to wrap Christmas gifts for them so could be something that would work. Perhaps you could try it from home to begin with?

I would probably be your best customer as I love beautifully wrapped presents but hate wrapping them!!

I'm surprised at the negativity on here as O also think it's a genius idea too. They do it it Montreal in the malls at Christmas - it was bliss.

I do think it may only work in an affluent upmarket area though, so your overheads would be high.

Good luck!

I'm a busy mum and no chance would I pay someone to do all the Christmas gifts, I can do it in an evening for the 4 kids normally and while I hate doing it, it's free.

Not gonna lie, I would... if not too expensive

No, not ever.

No - if they’re rich enough to use your service, then more than likely the shop they buy it from would most likely offer it or they farm the responsibility out to someone else.

As a business model I also wouldn’t invest or back this (which I’ve done for the past 15 years) because of the following flaws:
High fixed overheads - premises, rates, stock, staff, advertising.
It’s seasonal.
Need lots of various stock and even then people would want bespoke stuff or the one type you didn’t stock.
You would need to ensure always enough staff because people wouldn’t want to wait or queue for this so ensuring enough staff to deal with demand without paying lots of people to stand around and do nothing would be so hard to manage.

Sorry OP

In the shopping centre where we had our shop, centre of a small Northern city, a local charity used to run a wrapping service in December with proceeds going to the Charity. It was busy, but it was in the build up to Christmas and they were not charging commercial rates. They had no rent, rates, electricity or wages to pay, so it was all profit. I don't think it would be very busy away from the key present weekends, but if it was part of a shop selling a wide range of wrapping materials, cards and small gifts, and your overheads were low. I think a lot of people would expect you to wrap their gifts for nothing, if they bought the materials from you. Personally. I wouldn't pay to have a present wrapped, but my husband might, as he buys at the last moment, and he is hopeless at wrapping.

No I wouldn't use it but it would also be very seasonal

It's not something I would use. I don't think anyone I buy a gift for would appreciate a beautifully wrapped gift at the expense of the gift itself.

Maybe you could provide gift wrapping kits, where you make up packs with wrapping paper, tape, decorations and instructions on how to wrap nicely.

I don’t think so. I could see you having a few clients, but not enough to sustain physical premises and other costs, sorry.