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?

If you collected all my gifts from my home in a van and delivered them back to my door, it would be a lot more appealing because if not I would need to do at least 3 or 4 car runs to your shop with all my presents which would turn me off

I'd be worried a present got mixed up with someone else's and I wouldn't know until the big day!

no, sorry.

No. I would not use a wrapping service.
But I have seen shops with a packaging service
You arrive with an item, they package it up and send it

I don’t think a wrapping shop would be viable, but a few services might balance it out.
You would need to be on the high street etc for people to pop in - high expense on the premises, but you don’t need the biggest shop so could stay below thresholds on rates etc and see if the local council has a scheme for start up small businesses

Retail on wrapping paper & stationery - biggest business at Christmas, but you will need a mix of fancy value added and rock bottom cheap
Retail gifts - some generic gifts for last minute presents

Wrap, pack and send - you need to be able to take an item, guesstimate it’s final size & weight, then handle sending it via Royal Mail / couriers

Wrap & collect - someone drops off with you and collects later

Wrap as you wait - someone walks in with an item, and leaves with a wrapped gift

No, sorry. Wrapping is easy and I don't care how it looks.

Unless you live in somewhere like Belgravia or Muswell Hill where twee things like that thrive, I would maybe open a shop but add wrapping as a service .

I do think presentation is everything when it comes to gifts, and it's becoming a lost art.

My dear late Mum loved wrapping gits, and could always work magic with little bits of curled ribbon and artificial flowers.

No.

What are your other ideas OP?

I've been offered free Christmas wrapping service approx 3 times whilst in store & have used this. This was for a single item each time

However, I would not pay for a wrapping service

Whilst I'd be inclined to echo most of the other views here in that I probably wouldn't use it, I am reminded of someone I read about in Stylist magazine who set up exactly this service and seems to be making a pile ! If you could find that article (I think it would have been around Xmas) it might give you some hints: I think she was working from home though, not having to pay rent out

This does not sound like it would be lucrative.
You’d be massively busy at Christmas and holidays and not the rest of the time so how would that work with staffing?
Also I wouldn’t want to leave an expensive gift with someone I didn’t know where it could potentially be lost/damaged.

No, as others have said it would be a real faff to get everything to you for wrapping, and then collect again. If someone can afford to pay for this type of service they’d typically pay the merchandiser when they buy the item.

Nice idea, but I wouldn't use it. A lot of cost and extra hassle to arrange.
If you offered a bigger service with collection of gifts from homes or maybe direct from shops and wrapped and delivered them, I think there would be people rich enough to do that! But then again, they probably pay the shop to wrap it, or get someone to come to their home who will decorate the house (Xmas or birthdays) and wrap gifts to match etc.

The overheads wound kill you.

Much better to offer yourself as a self-employed mobile wrapper.

The sort of people willing pay for wrapping to all their presents probably buy from up-market places that offer that service anyway.

Other people might choose to have a special present wrapped - on an occasion but probably wouldn't want to pay a lot and would not do it often.

People worried about the planet would avoid this as wrapping materials are not exactly eco-friendly and are not essential anyway.

How many parcels a day would you need to wrap in order to pay your overheads and make a profit? Could you really get that many people through your doors every day?

I have volunteered for a children's charity to wrap a huge amount of wonderful donated presents
I paid for all my expenses

Yes, I would but you would have to be within walking distance of my house. What would be amazing would be a service where you could drop off gifts to be wrapped and posted as well. I hate going to the post office these days.

I would - I guess I am in the demographic you are looking for. I wouldn't go out of my way to get to your shop, but if it was close to John Lewis I would drop in

This might work as a pop-up service in a large commercial centre, but you'd either have to wrap everything immediately and very quickly or find a way of storing things (with no room for mistakes)

If all of your paper was eco friendly and you used paper tape etc ... yes!!!

A lovely idea but I think you would be spending an awful lot of time drumming your fingers on the counter and staring at an empty store, why not just open a gift shop and just sell 'lovely things' with wrapping on the side.

No. Not a chance.

May work in other countries though - are you maybe in the USA?

(Apologies if not, I was looking at how you said 'needing wrapped' as opposed to 'needing wrapping' or 'needing to be wrapped' and I think what you said is maybe the American way to say it?

I'm sorry, no I wouldn't.

One of our local shops offers to wrap gifts free of charge and I love it. It’s one of the reasons I use the shop so much. Brilliant for children’s birthday party gifts and presents for friends. Would I pay for the wrapping? NO. Does it make me use the shop more? YES.

Definitely not a viable business idea if you’re expecting people to pay for the wrapping, but it can be a nice add on to a gift business - as long as you offer it free of charge.

As a pp said, this is fairly common in some other countries. At the big toy stores in France I’ve seen huge rolls of wrapping paper and cellotape after the checkouts, for shoppers to help themselves to after they have paid. I’ve used it the odd time, but have noticed it’s never that busy. I expect around Christmas time it might be busier.

It’s a nice idea OP, but I’d keep exploring other ideas.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I think with the right products and a very targeted market this could work!

A beautiful shop offering lovely high end stationery and wrapping products to purchase in addition to a top notch wrapping service would be a wonderful place. You could offer environmentally friendly packaging like Japanese Furoshiki, work with amazing designers to create exclusive prints for wrapping with etc. It would have to be aimed at the right people, but I love it and want to work there! I love wrapping stuff

No. Wouldn't use it. I can't think of anyone I know who would use that. It's a sweet idea but it's so unnecessary. We are heading for difficult economic times so anyone who might use such a service is also likely to think twice.