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?

No, although I have used a wrapping service in store before. I wouldn’t make a special trip to specifically use one. And I only use recycled paper these days. No cellophane, no ribbons abbé no horrible plastic bows.

No, not for me either. I guess you might be able to make it work if you could do it from home as a side thing - but I can't see it providing a full income for one person, let alone a full shop. Sorry.

If you combined it with a gift ordering, wrapping and delivering service it might have more legs - the complete package, if you like.

But it’s the sort of service that would get binned off as soon as people need to rein in their spending, so potentially would be a fragile business model.

There are wrapping services around here, I am not sure they are successful enough to run as a main business.

You could set up a wrapping table at fairs or events, but for most people it's easier to have the things wrapped in the shop. Most do.

Maybe it might work better as a mobile service, where you wrap people's Christmas gifts at their home. Another 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.

No, it seems more hassle than just wrapping them (or sending them gift wrapped from Amazon.)

To succeed with this you would need to be based somewhere with high footfall and lots of shops. Which means your outgoings will be high because of the expense or rent and business rates.

Most people buy a lot of Christmas presents online. They're not going to slog into town to have someone wrap them. So you're more likely to pick up people buying one or two gifts that need wrapping there and then. What are you charging? I wouldn't pay more than about £2 or a bit more for a fancy bow. It doesn't feel like that would sustain a business to me. Managing people in the shop who are then wrapping their own stuff sounds messy as well.

No, never. And the kind of people who would pay for such a service tend to either shop in places that gift wrap pr have someone to do it for them!

You would never make money doing this. How much would you need to charge to make any kind of profit?

Have you looked at what business rates & rental would be yet?

Sounds very seasonal.

I'm shit at wrapping so I might do this at Christmas, but it would depend on how much it cost and how much I had to wrap. I can usually get online orders gift wrapped before they are sent directly to the recipient anyway, so there would be no need.

I think you'd need a lot of people buying gifts in person rather than online, given how many online retailers offer gift wrapping.

Maybe if you offered something else as well?

Think if the people you’ve asked in real life don’t seem impressed, and this is the feedback you’re getting here, it’s not genius by any stretch of the imagination.

I wouldn’t no, because I love wrapping gifts myself and making them look beautiful. I would love to go to a gift wrap store with lots of beautiful gift bags, ribbons, cards etc but it wouldn’t be a lucrative business model.

I would use it if it was a home based service. I.e. I pick colours/ ribbons etc form their catalogue, someone then comes and wraps presents at my house and puts the rubbish away.
Ferrying presents back and forth to a brick and mortar shop - no.

Most shops offer a gift wrapping service, lots of shopping centres do (Xmas time) and online you can get gift wrapped/presentation box. I've used on occasion.

I think one of big problems will be people moving away from the high street.

How big is the town/city you live in, is there going to be much footfall away from Christmas time. Would you sell additional items within the shop - the margin to make it worthwhile for customers to do is going to be low. Would you offer a posting service.

They have these in the trafford centre around Christmas time.
I imagine they make money, but it’s very seasonal and has the plus of being able to dump your presents there then go to the cinema, arcade, laser quest, restaurant meal, more shopping.
I’m not sure it would work out on a normal high street, year round.

To even break even I think you’d have to charge loads.

No, I hate wrapping but I'm a control freak and I would stress that things got mixed up.

No I don’t think so, certainly not on a regular basis. I would feel its a waste of money, for ease I use gift bags and tissue paper.

I would. As my arthritis gets worse I find myself less able to do fiddly activities like wrapping, I’ve started paying the local launderette to do my laundry (minus the smalls and socks ofc ) If you intend to run a sort of boutique where you sell gifts alongside wrapping stuff (like the Card Factory) I think it could work but not as a stand alone.

No, and TBH it sounds like it wouldn’t make enough money to survive. You might get lots of trade at christmas, but the number of people on a day to day basis who are unable/unwilling/to idle to wrap the odd birthday present would be negligible.

You're making zero profit on that.

Back to the drawing board

I hate wrapping, but the idea of having to go somewhere with all the items, tell you who was whose, choose the wrap etc is something I would hate more!

I would be much more interested in a business selling eco-friendly materials for furoshiki (Japanese reusable fabric wrapping).

Charities set up a stall like this in (most) Scottish shopping areas. It’s something like a £1 donation per parcel.
I’m the worlds worst wrapper, but I wouldn’t use this service. Sorry.