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'm not in the UK but in Australian shopping malls, they often have charity groups doing this at Xmas. They suggest "a gold coin" donation per present. ($1-$2). I happily pay a charity. I wouldn't schlep to a separate shop and pay proper money.

No. How would anyone transport all their Christmas shopping to you? How would they label everything to make sure it ends up with the right person? Would they have to pre-write all the labels and stick them onto the individual presents? Would they have to specify which paper for each present? All seems very complicated. I'm always horrified by how much I spend on wrapping paper etc (although now I just wrap Christmas presents in packing paper from Amazon and similar and draw patterns on it with sharpies. DD uses a stack of fabric she has accumulated and gathers it back for the next year).

I can't think of anyone who would use this service.

No, it would be a waste of money and bows aren’t very eco friendly. A lot of people just use gift bags bow if they don’t want to wrap things and many shops, both online and physical offer wrapping which would be more convenient.

I think a lot would depend on where you were located. You’d really need to co-locate with (or within) premium retail stores for the cash rich / time poor.

However, with the decline of the high street and rise of internet shopping you’d have to consider how (un)likely it would be for that same cash rich time poor shopper / gift buyer to make a special trip out just for a wrapping service.

Maybe think again and try and spot other gaps in the market!!

No. I don't enjoy wrapping but would I would hate to have to pay for someone to do it at one of the most expensive times of the year. Plus I wouldn't be arsed with the time and effort it would take to bring all my presents somewhere, pay to park, watch over to make sure they're all labelled properly and then lug them all home again.

What about an online store selling premium gift wrap and such? Things that are unique like beautiful marbled paper from Venice, ribbons made of interesting fabrics, hand made cards, materials for wrapping as suggested by a previous poster for Japanese-style eco wrapping? You could market it with a gorgeous Instagram account. Won’t make you a millionaire but could be a nice business.

@Padamae

No from me. Maybe a different version of that though. Like an option t tell you what birthdays I have coming up and you to deliver the correct cards and wrapping paper. Or a mobile service to come to my house to wrap stuff?

See now this is an interesting idea. On all the threads about coping with the mental load this always gets mentioned, remembering birthday cards and wrapping presents. So maybe an app where you put in all your important dates and then you get specific cards and wrapping paper delivered the week before.

Sorry OP, cannot see this working. The thought of having to traipse all my gifts somewhere and back again just isn't worth it or me.

There's less and less high street shopping happening now, it's much easier to buy a gift online and have it delivered straight to the recipient. A lot of retailers will offer a gift wrap service for products purchased online too.

Also, from an insurance POV, this would be a nightmare. What if the gift is lost / damaged whilst in your possession?

How many parcels would you wrap an hour? How much would you be able to make in a day? Deduct all cost of business venue rates etc and figure out if you would make any profit.

It's a bit like the lady who wanted to make her own hand made cards to sell, each one took an hour to make and would sell at £4 at the most, meaning her earnings would be less than minimum wage per hour.

@Padamae @dreamingbohemian I agree wholeheartedly re this - I was genuinely awake at 4am this morning worrying about missing friends and families babies/children’s birthdays, there are so many now and I feel so guilty when I miss them. There’s space for something like this!!

@Pomped

I think a lot would depend on where you were located. You’d really need to co-locate with (or within) premium retail stores for the cash rich / time poor.

However, with the decline of the high street and rise of internet shopping you’d have to consider how (un)likely it would be for that same cash rich time poor shopper / gift buyer to make a special trip out just for a wrapping service.

Maybe think again and try and spot other gaps in the market!!

Most premium stores probably offer gift wrap themselves and people who’ve bought from cheaper stores won’t want to fork out to have things wrapped.

People in real life are trying to do you a favour.
Buy a franchise in something you like.
You’re focusing on things like the trolleys near the door rather than the actual details of the business.
I think you are at a high risk of losing your inheritance, which is fine if you can afford to.

Nice gifts are already wrapped - even Amazon offers some kind of wrapping service.

A box or a bag would be less faff and cheaper than bringing a gift to a wrapping boutique.

Not sure many people would want to load the car with bags of presents pre-Christmas to get them wrapped. Even if they did, you'd be inundated a couple of weeks pre-Christmas and empty for months.

Thanks to Brexit, it's now only worth sending gifts yourself within the UK, much cheaper and easier to have them delivered directly, already wrapped, to anyone else in the world, Europe included.

As an add-on, you might be able to earn a few £, not a suitable business and not enough to cover costs of an actual store.

I was also going to suggest you try being a pop up xmas shop in a mall. (Although we have a charity stand do this every year in my local shopping centre.)

I'm sure there is a market for it at xmas - but I would think it's probably mostly seasonal. I also think you would need to charge quite a lot to make it worthwhile. And that prices you out of a lot of markets.

You could test the water on your local FB page and do some ''while you wait' from home jobs.

(Did you have the craze of having the front door covered in a big bow this xmas in your area? - there are always other ways of using your skills to make money).

No. I don't mind wrapping and have been an in-store wrapper.

It wouldn't make any profit.

This is very popular in the UAE and parts of the US - they tend to be kiosks rather than shops in the middle of malls and will do really extravagantly wrapping.

People obviously use them - cash rich, time poor people exist the world over, but I suspect the biggest barrier to success will be the objection to the environment impact. Shiny, glitter wrapping with plastic bows are definitely out. It’s now all fabric wrap and paper bags.

Np I wouldn't use such a service and fail to see how it could be financially viable. You would either need to charge a large amount and no-one would use it or a low amount and you would lose all your money.

No. Too expensive and very little value added.

I will throw money at jobs I don't like. I paid about £1,000 for a company to pack for me last time I moved. But even I wouldn't use this service!

I choose shops that will gift wrap for me, even if it's just a glossy carrier bag with a bit of tissue.
Your idea is lovely but it's very niche and possibly not a money maker.
Keep thinking. You'll come up with something.

No, I wouldn't.

Main problems:

• People moving away from doing presents altogether
• Moving away from wrapping, reusing wrapping or using gift bags etc instead.
• Buying online - just order it gift wrapped
• Department stores and some others already offer gift wrapping at xmas
• Some people enjoy doing the wrapping themselves like an art project

This has no chance as a business proposition - but sounds like lovely work if you could get it

Apart from all of the excellent points made above, don't forget how how much the world has shifted in the last year during the pandemic - online shopping has grown exponentially and even Amazon offers a gift wrap service. This is never going to reverse completely.

Back to the drawing board

No. I can wrap most things myself. If I buy something from somewhere, I’d ask them to wrap it for me if I needed them to

Only viable option for this is a pop up stand in a big shopping mall for a month before christmas