One of the most important parts of a successful gift shop is a wide range of interesting items. Customers can spend their money in many different places, and most shops sell mostly the same things.     The specialty shop stands out because its products are carefully chosen and displayed in a way that makes them look appealing. Customers want you to narrow down the choices for them and show them the ones you think are the best, or the ones that give them the most for their money.   Specialty shops always have to look for things that aren't sold anywhere else. When an item shows up in a discount store, it's time for the small shop to get rid of it. When possible, the buyer for a specialty shop should try to find items that aren't sold by mass marketers. This helps get rid of price competition, which is hard to win without the buying power of a large chain.   Are there still things that the big stores don't buy? One way to find out is to shop at these stores often and keep an eye out for new items. Ask your customers where else they shop, and look for things that those shops don't do as well as you do. Make sure you offer something unique. You could do direct imports or order products from craftspeople or small companies that will only be sold in your shop. You can also give more weight to lines whose marketing is only geared toward the small retailer.   You can also offer gift wrapping as one of your services offered. If you have an online store, you can try the Posh Wrap: Gift Option Manager App by CanCode.io.   Posh Wrap: Gift Option Manager App gives your customer a gift guide, it makes it easy for your customers to choose a product to give as a gift. You can add the gift option to your product page and it is very easy and convenient how to install and set up the app for your online store.   Price is usually not the only thing that customers of specialty shops think about, but it is still an important part of most buying decisions. When you're thinking about a product, you should know right away if it's in the right price range for your shop. Since it's hard to run a professional shop at only keystone (a markup of 200 percent over the wholesale price), another price factor to think about is whether the item would sell at a slightly higher markup.   Getting the lowest possible buying price is one way to keep a good profit margin and still offer good prices. Always ask suppliers for good prices, discounts, and longer payment terms. When you can, buy in-case packs, which often have a lower price per piece than broken or partial packs. Whenever you can, buy straight from the source instead of going through a middleman or distributor. Or, you could form a buying group with other small shops and combine their orders into one big one to get better terms and lower prices.  

What if this is your first order as a new shop owner?

    First orders should be "broad and shallow," which means that you should buy a small amount of many different kinds of goods without buying a lot of each one. You should order enough products for each line to look appealing, but not so many that you will have a "deep" back stock if they don't sell.   Once you know which items sell best, you can always place a new order. It's important that the prices of the items you sell range from low to high. Once your store is open, sales will show you what price range your customers are most comfortable with.   You will also learn from what customers ask for and what they expect to find in your shop. Keep track of these requests in a notebook or file and look for any patterns. You can't please everyone, but you should listen to customer requests that fit with what your shop is about. One thing that sets a good specialty shop apart from its mass-market competitors is the ability to find out what customers want and get it for them quickly.