Gift Box Business Plan, With a 12-Month Projection

A gift box business plan sets out what goes in your boxes and where it comes from, who buys them, what a box costs and sells for, and the first year month by month. Two things shape it more than anything else. The cost of a box is the sum of other people's products plus your packaging and time, so supplier prices and minimums are your margin. And the year is lumpy: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and above all the holidays, when corporate orders arrive by the hundred and pay a month later. In the example below, a curated box of island snacks reaches 560 boxes in December, makes a profit every month, and ends the year about $28,000 ahead on top of paying for the packing, but December's corporate boxes mean about $9,000 of components bought before the season and $12,000 of invoices not paid until January. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the projection, the cash, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the boxes, the makers you buy from, the customers, the goals.
• Cost a box from its components at the wholesale price you pay, plus the box, filler, card and your time.
• Price for online and markets, corporate orders and gift shops separately.
• Plan the calendar: December, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day carry the year.
• Corporate orders are big, need components bought early, and often pay 30 days later; plan the cash.
• Watch the components' best-by dates; a box is only as fresh as its shortest-dated item.
• TaroStack builds boxes from their components, by lot, and costs each one from what you paid. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Island Box Co. curates gift boxes of snacks and teas made by small producers on Oʻahu: taro chips, guava jam and māmaki tea in a printed box with a card. We sell online and at markets, make branded boxes for companies' clients and staff, and sell to two gift shops. Every box lists its makers, and every component carries its lot and best-by date. In the first year we plan to send 560 boxes in December.

The example uses Windward Roots' products as some of the components; the made-up taro business appears in all these articles.

Part 2: what a box costs

A box sold online or at a market also pays a 3% card fee, $1.35, for $20.47; a corporate box adds a branded card, 60 cents, for $19.72. How a box's cost and stock work when you make some of the components yourself is in kitting for gift boxes.

Part 3: customers and prices

Corporate boxes leave a little less than online boxes and come in hundreds, with one invoice and a logo on the card. Wholesale leaves $7.88, which only works because the components are bought at wholesale too; a gift box built from retail-priced items has no room for a shop's margin. How a wholesale price is set is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.

Part 4: the first year, month by month

The year starts in January, with $640 of fixed costs a month: the website and online shop, insurance, marketing and samples, packing space, software and card fees. Sales follow the gifting calendar, with February and May at 30% of December:

The year's sales are $70,332 and the profit $27,965, on top of $20 an hour for the packing. November and December are half the year's sales. Sourcing, selling and delivering are the owner's time on top.

Part 5: the December cash

The projection counts a box's cost and its sale in the month it ships. Corporate December doesn't work that way. The 300 corporate boxes need about $5,900 of components, and November's 165 another $3,250, bought in October and November so the makers can supply them. And companies often pay invoices 30 days after delivery, so December's $12,000 of corporate sales arrives in January. At the end of December the business has made $27,965 on paper and is waiting for $12,000 of it. Plan the working cash for that gap, ask corporate customers for a deposit, and order components as soon as orders are confirmed. How the cash side of a growing business works is in how inventory financing works.

Part 6: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the gift box business plan template. Type your boxes with their price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed, your fixed costs and startup budget, and the share of full speed for each month; it works out each month's sales, profit and cash, the first month with a profit and the lowest cash point. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The plan has one box. The shelf has six box designs sharing a dozen components from eight makers, each with its own minimum, lead time and best-by date. In November the questions are how many boxes the components on hand can make, which jam lot goes in the corporate boxes so it's still in date when the recipients open them, and whether to reorder tea now or wait. A spreadsheet of last year's totals can't answer any of them.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack builds every box from its components, by lot, and costs it from what you paid.

Boxes from their components. Each box design is a recipe of its components: chips, jam, tea, box, tissue and card. Building a run of boxes takes each component off stock from the lot that expires first, notes the lots on the run, and puts the finished boxes into a lot of their own. "What could I make right now" answers how many boxes the shelf can make.

Components bought on time. Each maker is a supplier with lead times and minimums, the reorder list shows components in days of cover against how long deliveries really take, and purchase orders carry approval above a threshold you set. A price-creep report per supplier shows which maker's prices are rising.

And every customer, with their margin. Corporate clients and gift shops are customers, with sales orders and delivery notes. Margins are reported by product and by customer, so the corporate account and the online shop sit side by side. If a maker recalls a lot, one report says which boxes it went into and who got them. Connect your Shopify store or Square, and we set it up with you.

Recipes, batches, lots, purchase orders and margins are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How do I write a gift box business plan?

Describe the business and the makers you'll buy from, cost a box from its components at wholesale, price for online, corporate and wholesale customers, project 12 months following the gifting calendar, and plan the cash for corporate orders.

Is a gift box business profitable?

It can be. In the example, an online box leaves $24.53 and a corporate box $20.28, and the year ends about $28,000 ahead on top of paying for the packing.

How much does it cost to start a gift box business?

About $8,350 in the example: components for the first 150 boxes, boxes and inserts at the printer's minimum, photography, a website, sample boxes for corporate buyers, a license and $3,000 of working cash.

How do corporate gift box orders work?

A company orders boxes for clients or staff, often with its logo on the card, usually for the holidays, and pays an invoice after delivery. Confirm early, take a deposit if you can, and buy components as soon as the order is firm.