UPSELLING PART 1: Offering Gift Wrapping for Your Online Business: Pick the Right PAPER

Posted by Big Brand Wholesale.com on 31st Mar 2020

We previously posted an article about all different types of Upsells but today I wanted to do a deep dive specifically into gift packaging. Let's begin!

Ok, first, real quick rewind: What is an Upsell? An Upsell is getting the customer to spend more money than they planned to by offering them another thing they can buy. Upsells typically accompany the product being sold. If you want a full course in Upseling, check out our last article.

Now let's officially begin -

Offering customization is super simple and can bring in TONS of extra lunch money + Very happy customers! Providing gift packaging saves the customer time and often saves them money too! Win-win!

Keep in mind, most companies do not actually "wrap" the present. Instead they insert the purchased gift wrapping materials into the parcel so the buyer can wrap it after they inspect the merchandise.

CHOOSING GIFT WRAPPING.... PAPER (literally, the actual composition of the paper used to make the gift wrapping impacts the price). Without a clear understanding of the different TYPES of papers you run the risk of not making informed decisions. You want to pick a paper that fits your brand and products, or, offer more than one type of paper and allow the buyer to pick. We will be discussing the actual cost and profit potential for each type of gift wrap in our Wrapping Paper upsells article. For now we are just learning about paper types.

(All of the information below applies to ALL types of paper products (wrapping paper, bags, tags and more:)

COMMON GLOSSY WRAPPING PAPER = typically affordable but usually not the cheapest. If you are looking for holiday paper you can usually get it super cheap directly from retail stores AFTER the holiday. Around 2 weeks after the holiday all leftover stock drops to 80-90% off, so a $20 pack can be $2-$3!! Kroger is my personal fav place to grab these deals.

DOUBLE SIDED (AKA: Reversible) = Usually more expensive than single-side printing. Not necessity but having a single paper that can offer two completely different looks is cheaper than buying 2 completely different rolls of paper. For example, the paper shown below: A husband might want the polka dot side for his wife whereas he might want the red side for a gift for his father = 1 product can sell to two different people.

Additionally, the red side works great for Christmas, Valentines Day and Sweetest Day whereas the polka dot side is great for Birthdays, "Just Because" Gifts, Secretary's Day, etc.

FOIL = Usually the most expensive but also the most premium. Who doesn't love the look of a shiny or holographic present?

"KRAFT" PAPER - This is basically the same as "Butchers Paper" (but don't buy Butchers Paper, instead buy actual Kraft paper). Kraft is also used for shipping, packaging material, Art and more. It's more like a thick construction paper. A lot of people LOVE Kraft because it is usually made from Recycled materials and it has a really nice clean, rustic look. Works for all occasions PLUS it's usually WAY CHEAPER than traditional wrapping paper:

PRINTED KRAFT PAPER:

FOIL GRAPHIC KRAFT PRINTED PAPER:

Now that you know about the different types of papers you can begin planning what you want your overall gift wrap to look like.

CONSIDERATIONS

People love having three choices to pick from; for some reason 3 is the magic number. This is why you always see offerings in trios. Now that you know 3 is most common, I promise you'll start noticing this everywhere! Check out a couple examples of groups-of-three-upsells:

DOLLAR SHAVE CLUB:

THE NEW YORKER:

There are also product grouping upsells:

AMAZON:

I am not sure what site this is, but look at the three products along the right sidebar:

As far as offering Gift Wrapping goes, these are some GREAT examples:

This site sells small items only, so they are able to offer two basic boxes for only $2 each or you can get 1 fancy box for $4:

Victorias Secret offers only a couple gift wrap options. They can wrap it for you for $6 or they'll send you a spiffy kit so you can wrap it yourself for only $3:

And this site has 3 different wrapping styles:

This site offers several different options, but all of the options focus on the buyer getting 1 box, 1 color of paper, ribbon and, for $2 additional, they can also get a bow:

Now that you know toy should aim for 3 variations (4 or more are optional but AVOID making the selection overwhelming. Ever go to a restaurant with a MASSIVE menu? Im looking at you, Cheesecake Factory! The menu is so damn big that you don't know what to get. It turns a simple choice into an event. By offering 3-4 options you get upsells without losing the buyer.

So now it's time to think, do you want 1 or two sizes of boxes and the only difference is the color of paper? Or do you want 3 totally different wrapping designs, such as a box, a bag and 1 style of fun packaging? (We will be discussing the costs of each type of packing and profit potential over the next 5 days).

For now, get out your note pad and your pens (or if you haven't ordered them yet, GET IT DONE NOW) so you can take notes and sketch out some ideas.

Then scribble some idea notes; potential offerings, what amount you would like to keep your cost to, what your ideal upsell price would be, etc:

SET YOUR BUDGET: How much total do you want to spend this week on creating your gift wrap upsell program? $40? $100? $300? For the next 5 days we will be discussing hundreds of different ways to customize your upsell program; some ways will be money-saving and other ways will be high-profit but more expensive. BUT if you create a budget NOW you won't risk blowing your budget on impulse buys this week.

Write down your budget in your notebook.

IMPLEMENTATION:

Also take notes on how you plan to implement gift wrapping on your site. If you own your own website through a website host, such as BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Volusion, Magneto or Shopify, your site likely already has a built-in option for offering gift wrap but the standard built-in option can be crappy, so if you are serious about really making money off gift wrap you may want to pay for an extension app that is designed specifically for this.

If you sell on someone elses site, some sites (like etsy) offer a Gift Wrap option. On Amazon, as far as I know, Amazon does their own gift wrapping for their Amazon warehouse merch. I am not sure if private sellers can offer wrapping upsells. As far as eBay goes, they used to offer actually seller gift wrapping, then they took it away. Then they offered it seasonally. Then they changed it again. I do not have the slightest idea what their current gift wrapping status is but you can always offer gift wrapping for X-amount and send your buyer an invoice for it after the purchase is made. Other sellers run their gift wrapping as a Buy It Now or an Auction.

Next, read the other posts from this series:

Upsells for Online Stores PART 5: Additional Gift Wrap Upselling Ideas - Make Your Wrapping AWESOME

Upselling PART 4: How to Pick Gift Wrapping Paper & Gift Wrap KITS - DIY vs Premade Based on Cost and Profit

How to Upsell PART 3: Gift Bags Instead of Boxes - Cost, Profit and How to Pick the Right Packaging

How to Upsell PART 2: Different Types of Gift Boxes Based on Cost and Profit

UPSELLING PART 1: Offering Gift Wrapping for Your Online Business: Pick the Right PAPER

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