Our Blog

Creating Profitable Gift Shops

One of the most common questions, that we receive at Paquin Healthcare is, "How do I make my gift shop more profitable?"

There are a couple of key areas of opportunity. One of the biggest problems is that a single gift shop usually doesn't have the buying power or the staff with the negotiation skills to get merchandise at the appropriate discounts. In fact, even within the same healthcare system, we often see that buying is not coordinated from one gift shop to another. This is a missed opportunity.

Our mission for clients is to deliver a gift shop buy plan that has an exciting merchandise selection, but also has high margin items. Our target mark-up on products ranges anywhere from 250%-300%, which is more in line with best practices in the retail industry. At the same time, it is always the goal to deliver value to internal customers. Internal customers should always feel that the price they receive is fair and comparable to the quality of the product they are purchasing.

Second, but equally as important, is buying products that your customers want to buy. We often survey employees at hospital sites; it is amazing how large the disconnect can be. Employees, for example, want to patronize the gift shop on a regular basis. Often, however, the products they are willing to purchase are not available.

Following current trends, keeping the merchandise fresh and turning it often is certainly one of the keys to a successful retail strategy.