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 worked in Clinton's over 20 years ago and they did this then. We didn't charge, it was an opportunity to upsell our wrapping products.
It wasn't especially popular, more so with men at Christmas but even then I don't remember it being busy.
I don't think it's a bad idea in theory but you'd struggle to make a profit from it these days when people expect multipacks or roll wrap for next to nothing.
I think people would rather get the charity wrappers that are about at Christmas to do it now. That's if they couldn't do it themselves and they were being charged.

WHY?

Why would I pay for someone to wrap something? I'd spend more time and effort getting the item(s) to your service than if I'd just done the job myself!

If I really didn't want to, I'd get Amazon to gift wrap or go to another online shop which offered a gift wrap service as part of the purchase so I only have to click twice to get it.

If you are intending to collect presents to wrap, your service will either be so exhortationate that it won't get customers or you won't be able to make enough money from it after you take your overheads of that out.

No

I wouldn't, but I'm sure plenty of others would - regularly used to get people asking if we'd wrap items they were buying in the last shop I worked in!

Have you worked out how long it will take you to wrap each parcel and factored the labour costs into your business plan. I run an online retail business and it still stuns me how long it takes to wrap parcels up for posting never mind the cost of the packing materials and I am not having to use fancy wrapping paper which you would need to do if offering it as a gift service.

No probably not I’m afraid

I agree with PPs that this is highly unlikely to succeed. I’m a busy mum with money to spend and I wouldn’t use it. Have you done a business plan with coatings to work our what you would need to charge in order to cover all costs and make a profit? I imagine it would cost a fortune per item if you were to do anything other than make a loss. Sorry to be negative but I hate to think of someone losing inherited money in a bad business idea.

Have you posted about this before OP? I seem to remember a similar thread (with similar responses) a while ago.

No, sorry OP.

It does sound great. However I've personally moved away from fancy wrapping paper and bows to brown paper, because of the environment. Don't know if others are like me too?

I worked in a department store in the 90's and we offered a free wrapping service for items bought in that shop, we supplied paper ribbons etc. It was not that popular even at Christmas so the store stopped it as it was a loss maker.
I am a good wrapper but prefer to use a gift bag that can be re-used etc.

I would think that a pop up shop might give you some idea how sucessful or otherwise your idea would be, but honestly I would not invest your inheritance in this!

No sorry

No, sorry! I love wrapping and make an evening of it before birthdays / Christmas etc

No, I wouldn't use it.
That's what gift bags and patterned tissue paper and shredded paper are for.
I really don't think there is a market for this.

There is a definite market for well priced and well stocked wrapping paper and wrapping plastics (like you see around a gift basket), and gift bags and accessories but to pay someone to wrap the gift itself - nah, I'll pass

Nah, wrapping paper gets torn off and discarded. It's something I pay as little for as possible as it is.

I would use it if I had loads of money.
I get bored with wrapping gifts after the first one, and it takes me ages to get them looking nice. There's all the hassle of finding the right size box etc. too.
However, I don't have loads of money (sadly) so am stuck with doing it myself.
It used to be something department stores would do for free. I'm not sure if they still do. I think a lot of people are just using the gift bags these days.

I think the only was this would work is if you chose a few selected luxury retailers and had a stand in them that offered this service. I have seen this done in London, might have been Selfridges or Harrods. I’d target places like that because a lot of people (not all) spending there have enough spare cash that they’d pay a premium for this service. It could be offered as they buy their gifts and trolleys to bring those purchases directly to you, you pick up. They could label with names. You could sort and give them a time to pick up later with their driver. Genuinely having worked near Selfridges for a long time in London the number of drivers just circling St Christopher’s place waiting for the clients shopping in there I think this could work for you. Spending power stores is your best bet though, I personally wouldn’t pay for it but I’m not well off and love wrapping, good luck OP. Do your market research first 👍

No, even though I have used in store paid wrapping services a few times.

It might work as an at home/collection service (lower overheads) in conjunction with party/Christmas decoration services. It depends on where you are based, whether people have the wealth to outsource wrapping. You would also need the capacity to expand rapidly at Christmas when demand is high. People won't come back if you are booked up the first time they try to use you.

There are already similar businesses though that offer both corporate and personal gift wrapping.

I would definitely use this service, I think it's brilliant,Christmas burns me out every year with wrapping all of Santa gifts which could be 50 + between the four of my children on top of all our family gifts, how much would you be thinking if you were to wrap 50 Santa presents ???

I think the only way to make ‘Instagram worthy’ would be to do really high end exquisite wrapping which would be costly and expensive. And I think the types of people who’d want to have that done for them would already get it wrapped in higher end shops? Certainly can’t see people wanting your bog standard group of xmas presents with a couple of bows to the extent they’d transport all those gifts to your shop and wait for you to wrap it up. Much quicker and cheaper to do it yourself.

I also think going to people’s homes would be a little odd, unless it’s to collect and then drop them off again. I just can’t see this working, sorry.

No, loads of shops will do gift-wrapping for you, no extra charge.

@BearSoFair

I wouldn't, but I'm sure plenty of others would - regularly used to get people asking if we'd wrap items they were buying in the last shop I worked in!

That’s very different and many places offer a wrapping service.

Where I live and back in my home country anything that you buy from mid-November onwards can be wrapped at checkout. The staff have proper training on it and everything is beautifully wrapped and decorated, looks really professional.

One of the things that shocked me when I moved to the UK. Christmas shopping is stressful enough without having to buy wrapping paper, tape, and spend hours on the living room floor trying to wrap stuff half-decently.

Still OP, I wouldn’t use your service. Maybe look at partnering with local shops and offer this service in store.

I actually think it sounds like a lovely idea. But I don’t think you would make ANY profit on it.
What about going mobile ? You could get some kind of ice cream truck type van and make it in to a wrapping station ? Christmas would probably be profitable for you especially if you use eco friendly materials but not sure about the rest of the year .

No, sorry - I use reusable gift bags wherever possible to minimise environmental impact.

I think in all honesty the timing is wrong for such a venture as wrapping is going out of fashion, for environmental reasons.

Plus, as pps have said, for those who do want it, it's already offered by many online retailers.