Why Personalized Gifts?

The market for personalized gifts has exploded! Why? Why spend $30 on a generic gift when you could spend that same $30 and get it personalized? Not only are you giving your customers more value for their money, but you are ensuring that the gifts they buy leave a long-lasting impression.

Do you remember every person who gave you a gift that your child once used? Probably not. But what about that blanket, shirt, or bib that had the name or initials of that child? How about the picture frame or announcement plate with the child’s birthday and time of birth? More often than not, you remember the gifts that had that extra touch. Personalization offers that “extra.” For the person who has everything, sometimes personal gifts are the only option!

Why now? Technology has simply made it easier to create personalized items. The process of personalization used to be insanely expensive, prohibiting it as a cost-effective product for small businesses. Advances in technology have changed that landscape and created a new opportunity for those seeking unique business ideas. Not only are current machines and software cheaper, they are faster, more efficient, and more user-friendly, making it possible to personalize items in less than 20 minutes!

Our Franchise Business Opportunity

Our Products: The personalization industry is broad. Very broad. Our franchises offer several different techniques to personalize items (embroidery, vinyl, heat vinyl, sublimation, and laser engraving) and based upon demand, the franchises can add other equipment to offer additional products. The products that can be made with the equipment cover most items (hats, shirts, quilts, bags, wine glasses, jewelry, car decals, pillows, flags, license plates, phone cases, cutting boards, stainless steel water bottles, etc.). Most items sell for an average of $35-$45.

Our Market: Our business opportunity is designed for fast turnaround with most items delivered within one to two hours from when they are purchased. Customers love to buy something personalized and with fast turnaround makes it even better. People are more likely to spend if they know that they can bring their items home after a short time.

Our Target Customers: Unlike many retail businesses, Presents of Mine has a wide range of target customers. Monogramming is big business for girls in middle school through college, young women, and grandmothers. Baby gifts, wedding gifts, house warming, and real estate closing gifts are big sellers for everyone from young adults through grandparents and everyone in between.

Local businesses and visitors that have their own businesses are also target markets for logo and team building items personalized on clothing, drinkware, and awards for recognition. Other niche business opportunities consists of local schools and sports teams. Moms and dads use our business for player uniforms, T-shirts, flags, and a multitude of other items to show support for teams and players. Many customers are repeat customers or online customers, so having your own online presence is another big advantage.

Our Store: Having a storefront is a tremendous asset in this industry. Although the internet provides a huge customer base, consumers love to actually see and feel the quality of the products, the sizes, and the colors all while being able to obtain their personalized item the same day.

One of the advantages that Presents of Mine has over other similar online stores is our brand name recognition. Sure, you can order a raincoat and get it monogrammed online, but can you find a Charles River Raincoat and get that personalized? No. We offer name brand, quality products that other online retailers do not. Most online personalization takes weeks to arrive because most of those online retailers are people with their own machines at home.

And, while they have very little inventory, it can still take weeks to make items. Besides having a place to showcase the products and the ability for fast turnaround, the store is a big part of our marketing with people walking by our store each day.

Advantages of Franchising: Besides the normal advantages that all franchise systems have – proven systems, training and support programs, purchasing power, branding and more – there are additional advantages in this industry. With the sharing of new designs and patterns, discoveries of new techniques, and the sharing of new hot trends, there is a wealth of information and ideas at your fingertips instead of wasting time and energy looking for that next new pattern.

Initial Training

Our initial training program is held at our franchisor location in beautiful Blue Ridge, GA. The initial training is broken out to five, one-week modules and takes place after your franchise agreement is in place and you have secured a location for your store.

Ongoing Training and Support

• Grand Opening Assistance
• Additional Training
• Phone/email support
• Conference Calls and Communications
• Annual Conferences

Technology (POS, Website, Social Media)

During initial training, you will learn about our turnkey business approach. We will cover technology topics including setting up your franchise’s Point of Sale, modifying products on your site, adding products, inventory, shipping, reporting, and more.

As technology changes, so will our systems. We use a product for our website and POS that is used by thousands of businesses across the world. They are constantly updating features to make the system more efficient and effective. Although we will continue to provide content for our social media campaigns, franchisees are encouraged to build their own customer bases and social media programs

• No retail experience required.
• Strong Management skills and the ability to delegate and hold employees accountable to details
• Excellent customer service skills and ability to pass those skills to all employees
• Comfortable learning new software and technologies
• Ability to follow a system (the personalization process is very detailed)