An update of a popular blog post from December, 2010

When I first wrote about stores gift wrapping customers’ purchases, it was a service commonly offered by department stores. But by 2016, as an article in Marketplace stated, “Free department store gift wrapping services are a thing of the past as stores compete with each other to have the lowest prices. Today companies want to get as many customers into their store as possible and gift wrapping services are seen as time-consuming and resource-wasting.”

The sad fact is that between 2017 and 2023, over 50% of mall-based department store locations in the U.S. closed, and the decision not to offer gift wrapping was probably an insignificant factor. But many specialty shops have continued to provide this service, albeit not always for free.  It’s something that our store has always offered – although we’ve seen requests decline significantly as more people give gift cards, or are content with a gift bag.

Service is often what sets a specialty shop apart from an online seller or big box retailer, so you might consider offering gift wrapping if you sell anything that is given as a present. Here are some tips to make this efficient and economical:

✴Have a good array of gift boxes on hand.  It will save you a lot of time if you don’t have to wrap lumpy, odd-shaped items (and many customers will just take a box, rather than waiting for wrapping). Label the bins or shelves of boxes with the box dimensions.

✴Gift bags are an acceptable alternative to wrapped packages — even at weddings.  You may be able to buy closeouts or inexpensive bags that are less expensive than boxes. At the holidays we offer this option for small items such as ornaments.

✴To cushion items and avoid breakage, use sheets of heavier tissue to wrap the item inside the box or bag, or have a big bin of crinkle paper on hand.

✴Make sure your store name is on the package so the recipient can tell everyone where the gift they like so much is from.  We use a sticker on the tissue lining the box, and that tissue has our logo printed on it subtly in white-on-white.

✴Offer at least two or three wraps for different occasions. You can buy an inexpensive 85’ cutter box roll if you don’t need a half ream.  There are also jewelry rolls available that are only 7 1/2” wide.

✴Show customers their options at the time that they check out. We use a wall photo frame with openings for four 4 X 6 prints to show a sample of each wrap and the ribbon that comes with it.

✴If your wrapping is not near your checkout counter, make up a sheet of little slips that show that the item has been paid for, and indicate the choice of wrap.  We have staff indicate on our slip that price tags are removed, just to make sure that they have been.

✴Set up a special area for wrapping that is at a comfortable counter height, and has easy access to supplies such as tape and scissors.

✴If possible, use heavy-duty roll dispensers that make it easy to tear the paper once you’ve measured the length that you need.  We use the type of cloth tape measures sold in fabric stores to cut the right length, and have a plastic bin for leftover scraps of each style so that we don’t waste any paper.

✴There are many ways to do the ribbon on a package — in Europe, curling ribbon seems to be the norm, but we use sheer organza ribbon that has fine wire edging to help hold the bow’s shape.

Adding a little gift item on the top of the package makes a really special presentation, and one that you might offer for expensive items.  I get such a kick out of at the scene from Love, Actually in which Rowan Atkinson demonstrates a London department store’s luxury wrap for a married man trying to discretely buy a gift for his mistress.  It’s a real day-brightener for those of us who proudly consider ourselves professional “wrappers.”

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder