Advantages of Online Shopping at Christmas Time

Christmas is just 18 days away and there are only three more weekends to complete that Christmas shopping. Although at this time of year, shopping online is definitely preferential to visiting the malls.

No crowds

As pretty as they look all decked out with their festive decorations, I much prefer to avoid the crowds. Of course, visiting a store or two is a necessity at this time of year, but if I can skip it is as much as possible then all the better.

No Christmas carols

As much as I like to hear the odd Christmas carol, I don’t want to hear them all the time. There is nothing worse than listening to 3 hours of carols only to find that they are stuck in your head, and you cannot get to sleep without humming Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer to lull you to sleep.

No holiday traffic

Online shopping means no traffic jams. As everyone is heading in the direction of the nearest mall or store, I like to go in the opposite direction, away from the gridlocked traffic. I’m all about the peace and quiet at the end of a busy year.

No long checkout queues

You have spent an hour or two picking out the right gift only to find that the checkout is a mile long. Online shopping allows you to view it up close and personal via the images without the queue. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

You can compare prices

You can quickly compare prices when you are shopping online. This is a great way to enable you to save money. Comparing prices at a mall may mean walking from one end to the other and back again, and with all that foot traffic, well let’s just say you want to avoid that as much as possible.

Shop at your convenience

If you want to shop at 3 am in the comfort of your pajamas, then you can. You don’t have to wait until the store opens; you can do it 24/7 at your convenience. And you can do it while sipping a cup of coffee and munching on chocolate. Nothing beats it!

If you are ordering online, then it is best to order earlier rather than later as you want your gifts to arrive in plenty of time. There is nothing worse than ordering something and then finding out it is not going to get there until after the big day! So if you want to order, shop today or tomorrow or as soon as you can. 

What's New On Our Shelves at Rainbow Designs

It's an exciting time of year - the stores are getting busier, summer is almost here and we get new gifts on our shelves to please the Christmas shoppers. So what's new? Are you ready to be wowed!

For starters we have the Festive Treats Gift Hamper. For $90 including postage, your recipient of choice will get brandy glaze, rosemary lavash, plum pudding, chocolate covered macadamia, three berry jam and handmade cookies. This is one of my favourite gifts, particularly the white choc chip macadamia handmade cookies. Delicious!

Next is the Christmas Cheer Gift Hamper which is indeed full of the Christmas spirit. For $190, including postage you get a bottle of Brut, olive and herb antipasto, berry jam, brandy sauce, cookies, apricots in mango liqueur, panaforte, plum pudding, shortbread, lemon butter and more. Imagine their surprise when they open this delightful gift on Christmas morning.

It's definitely not Christmas without the bubbles. The Christmas Bubbles Gift Hamper costs only $50 including postage and features a bottle of Brut, some chocolates and a plum pudding. For those spending Christmas alone or need some cheering up, this gift will do it. Show them you care with this gift hamper wherever in Australia they may be.

For those looking for some wine and treats, this is it! For $125 including postage your loved ones will receive a bottle of red and a bottle of white, lavash, beetroot relish, chocolates, rum balls, quince paste and plums in port. A stylish and deserving gift if ever there was one!

Which one do you like the most?

Delicious Gifts For $50 and Under

Ordering gifts online does not have to be expensive. We have some lovely and very delicious gifts for $50 and under, including postage and handling.

For $48 (including shipping) you can order a Big Chocolate Box, a Big Lolly Box or a Big Sweet Tooth Gift.

For exactly $50 (including shipping) we have the Little Sweetie Gift Hamper and Nibbles For Everyone.

If your budget is a little more fluid and you wanted to spend a bit more - say in the $60 range - then consider the Chocolot Gift Hamper, the Congratulations Cake & Bubbly Gift, the Nuts About Sweets Gift Hamper or the Ultimate Cider Gift Box.

All of our gifts will be expertly packed and shipped to your door or your friend's door in no time at all. Don't forget that you also have the option of upgrading to Express Post which is wonderful for those who have left it to the last minute to order something special for their friends or family. Even if you do order your gift a day or two late, your recipients will forget that fact as soon as they open your gift.

As the saying goes, "better late than never" right?

Housekeeping

I try and make a 'semi' regular habit of update and making minor changes a few times a year to our website. Nothing too drastic or life altering and for the most part no one but me will notice these changes but I think I need to do this to ensure my business and website is running at its best.

Over the weekend I updated all of the descriptions for our wonderful gifts and try to make them all cohesive and looking the same. In general they did but there were always a few differences, whether meant or accidental, that I was not happy with so decided to get stuck in.

This may sound easy and for the most part it was just 'involved' but whenever you are working with the behind the scenes of a website there is always the possibility of messing something up! I had a few, 'oh no what have I done' moments but thankfully nothing too drastic happened and I didn't break it.

Now all of the gifts descriptions look the same with the exact same font and colours and the same flow. I've tried to be a simple as I can in the way it's set out without losing the 'fun' and 'quirkiness' I've always tried to put into the website. I want it to read well and to be easy to understand without it being boring.

Now all gifts have their exact contents listed, then a list of what is also 'always' included but a list of the cool (well I think so) little extras Rainbow Designs provide.

I also updated the Contact Us page. I had been having problems with an excessive amount of spam coming through this form but hope that it is all sorted now. This form is easy to understand and fill out and hopefully will encourage potential customers to contact us if they're unsure of something or just want to ask about delivery or make a request. The easier I can make our website to use the more likely people will stay to browse, bookmark it for latter use and eventually place an order (or two).

The front home page also got a little makeover making it less busy and hopefully easier to see what we offer. The same with the delivery page, just a few small amendments to make sure all the information is easy to understand and up to date.

More behind the scenes work was done in regards to SEO (search engine optimisation) and getting the keywords and product descriptions right and hopefully picked up by Google. It's always been one of the hardest things with our website, getting on the first page of google for our main keywords. It's all well and good having a gorgeous website and fabulous products but if noone knows you exist and you don't show up anywhere online when searches are made you may as well stay in bed! These changes are more a waiting game as updates to search engines can take time, sometimes a lot of time. When I make seo changes I then need to leave them be for a good three months or so to see if they've made a difference. If nothing seems to have changed or worse the listing is going backwards and go and make a few minor changes (and cross my fingers).

We've got some new products in the pipeline and I am so excited. I cannot wait to be able to share them and start sending them around Australia.

The next major occasion is Easter - mid April so I am gearing up for this and will start making a few slight changes to the website as well as do some promotion work and possibly advertising.

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and seo expert (not really but wishes she was!)

Online Shopping - Some of My haunts!

Now it makes sense that I would do a fair bit of shopping online when I run an online business. I try and do as much of my 'life' as I can online actually. I pay bills, book hotels, organise 'fun' activities, clothes shop, buy food, look for houses, search for job opportunities. Basically whatever I can do online I will!

Here are a few of my favourite or go to online businesses I've used over the years and, for the most part, still use now!

* Banking - I've online banked for as long as it was possible I think. It's so convenient and so easy. All my business banking I can do online as well as loan repayments and even applying for credit cards (not that I need another credit card to get further into debt!). My main banks are Westpac and ING. There are now also phone apps which are helpful when you're out and about and need to transfer money from one account to another. How easy has I life become!

* Shopping - Not only do I use the internet for personal shopping but also for my business, it's great! I don't need to bother with my car and siri, nor do I have to deal with crowds and feeling invisible in a shop. Do you find yourself feeling like you're wearing an invisibility coat like I often do when in 'real' shops? Online shopping eliminates this :-) I am trying to kerb my clothes shopping, both online and in stores, as I don't 'really' need anything and money is tight but when I am in the mood and actually have a bit of spare cash (what is that??) I usually browse: Cotton On, Supre, Ezibuy - whoever was having the best sale usually ended up with my money. For business most of my suppliers had a website I could order my stock through or I just emailed through my order. Very rarely would I need to call or to visit in person. Groceries where another thing I use to order online and have delivered but now I just wander into town and get what I need. I very rarely do a large shop so can more often than not just carry my groceries home. A bonus of living in town!

* Travel - I am forever searching for the next bargain holiday and this lately has been centred around cruising. We did our first cruise in 2010 and were well and truly bitten by the cruising bug. Love it. My main cruise website is Ozcruising but I also checkout Cruisesalefinder. Hotels are another thing I always book online, generally through Wotif or Booking.com as well as flights or train. For flights I check Webjet but then book directly through the airline, whoever has the cheapest flight generally! Webjet's booking fees are ridiculous especially when you're booking a Tigerair flight for $45 and their fee is $20 must cheaper to book direct with the airline. Webjet just makes it a bit easier to compare the flight :-) If I need to book the train, the dreaded XPT, I book online through NSW Trainlink. Groupon is another website I have used and often check out for ideas on 'fun' activities to do with the family - I've booked Jet Boating (fun) and Abseiling (not so fun) as well as the Brisbane Wheel (I think the wheel was about half price!) and have ear marked a couple of other activities for possibilities in the coming school holidays. I've also booked the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb online and the Sydney Tower Skywalk plus the Auckland Harbour Bridge climb (I also came across a website which had a discount voucher for this so saved $15pp with that, bonus! My mum might have a different view of this though!!). The comparison sites are great, even for travel insurance (there are sooooo many out there) these sites can help narrow down your search.

* Life - All the everyday things in life can more often than not be done online, saving time and sometimes money when they offer a discount to pay online. Car rego and insurance, electricity, internet, phone all the usual suspects can be done online. Most of these have been setup as direct debits, to make things even easier, but I also have the option to pay online.

What on earth do we do with all this time we're saving by doing so much online?? Probably wasting it on Facebook and Instagram or day dreaming of our next cruise.

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and lover on online shopping :-)

Sydney Tower - Skywalk! (booked online)

O is for...On Special

It's always hard to know whether to have specials or not? Should I mark my gift prices down? Will this bring in more orders and will I still make money? Will I attract new customers or will it be my regulars who order, who would have ordered any way?

I've never been good at the whole 'add value' and 'don't discount'. I already believe my gifts are value for money plus I also have to take into account delivery charges. If I add something, for nothing, will this bump up the cost of delivery thus making the gift unprofitable. Also, what do I add as a bonus that will entice people into buying the gift more so than when it is just the standard product?

I generally go with a discount if I'm running a special but it can generally only be up to 15% otherwise I'm not making any money at all, in some cases I would be losing money. My margins aren't very high as I want my prices to be as low as I can make them, all the time not just a few times a year.

People still like to complain about prices but they just don't understand how expensive delivery is. My delivery charges vary from $13 to $21 depending on the satchel I use. Sometimes gift ideas I have just won't work as the gift, while in itself doesn't cost very much, ends up being too large for my small or medium satchels and ends up needing to use the large satchel - this is $20 just for postage!

This bear gift ended up being not value for money as it had to go in the $21 satchel!

Confectionery has also just gone up, for the 2nd time in the last 5 months as have all of my packing and gift boxes. I also went from using large noodle boxes to tins which is a huge difference in price but I didn't increase my sell price. Some of it was saved in the delivery charges as I could you use a smaller satchel but not all, it just means my margins are a bit smaller. This all means I just need to work that little bit harder! All fun and games.

Chocolate helps!

When I am discontinuing something I might mark them down to just cover postage as I just want to get rid of the stock I have and sometimes I'll have something on special to try and get a bit more interest and coverage for Rainbow Designs but I can't sustain these specials for too long. I actually prefer to keep my prices the same and have a 'repeat customer' discount so then people who are loyal to me or who have ordered from me before are rewarded for coming back! I think people appreciate this sort of discount too, it makes them feel like their business is worth something to us and not just taken for granted. I 'never' take orders for granted, I know how hard it is to get orders and keep them coming in regularly - it is never a 'given' that you will get orders every day, even after 11 years!

On special or just special - either way I think a business needs to believe in their products and pricing and not devalue themselves!

Chocolate Gift Hampers, we've got them!

Hi, my names Jacqui and I am a chocoholic - woohoo! Are you or do you know someone who is? You can thank me later but I think I may have just helped you find the perfect gift for them (or you!).

I started my business, Rainbow Designs, with the idea of having some cheap (affordable) chocolate and lolly type gifts because, well, I love chocolate, I love gift giving and I didn't (still don't) have much money!

First gift I ever sold was the Big Sweet Tooth Gift! My website had been 'live' for about six weeks and finally, finally someone ordered - March 23, 2004. The beginning!

Sweet Tooth Gift

Back in the day it came in two 500g noodle boxes now it is currently in our fabulous Ditzy designed reusable keepsake tin (which I love!).

I've kept my gifts pretty much the same over the years with a few newbies added and removed, new gift boxes and hampers and an assortment of weird and wonderful confectionery. Some worked, some didn't! You live and learn and eat a lot of lollies!

Our current list of Chocolate Hampers include not only my range of Chocolate Boxes but also a yummy selection from a fabulous Hamper company I am lucky enough to be working with. They are such a lovely bunch of people and never fail to deliver gorgeous hampers that I am proud to be able to sell to my customers!

First up and one of my all time most popular hampers is the Sweet Selection Hamper - this is has been a staple of Rainbow Designs for so many years now and just keeps on delivering the good(ie)s!

Sweet Selection Hamper

Another super popular and fairly recent addition to our Chocolate Hamper range is our Choco-lot Gift Hamper. It's got chocolate coated pretzels! I adore chocolate coated pretzels, so moreish and so delicious. There's also rocky road (everyone loves rocky road) and choc honeycomb, hot chocolate, choc bullets, fruit & nut chocolate - it's a sure fire winner. Guaranteed to impress any chocoholic - happy birthday indeed!

Choco-lot Gift Hamper

Hot Chocolate is another new gift hamper we've added for our chocoholics out there as well as a very impressive Champagne and Chocolate Hamper - chocolatier chocolates, say no more!

Gift giving at it's most chocolatiest (means: full of chocolate). I hope I've been able to provide you with some yummy gift ideas for your chocolate loving friends and also been able to show you that even the smallest of budgets can afford one of our chocolate filled gifts - just $27 with everything included to make the recipient feel like they are king/queen of the world! Everything means Australia wide delivery, gift tag, glorious chocolate and beautiful packaging. Save time, order online.

Gift Hampers for EVERY taste, EVERY occasion and EVERY budget

 

It need not be a chore sending someone you love a gift. Online is definitely the way to go, especially when you live far apart - whether it be another state or another country, online shopping makes the world a very small place! Rainbow Designs is here to help you with your gift giving, making it easy, fun and affordable. We maybe a small business but we take huge pride in the quality of our products and service. You will be NUMBER 1 in your recipients eye after they open their gift hamper you sent them from Rainbow Designs - they are guaranteed to put you in the good books for a VERY long time!

What started out as just a few gifts of lollies and chocolates has grown to include special treats like international beers, bottles of bubbly and wonderful wines from across the globe as well as divine products from Maggie Beer and Simon Johnson. As our blog title says:

Gift hampers for EVERY taste, EVERY occasion and EVERY budget. 

#smallbusiness #rainbowdesignsgifts #australianhampers

Gifts $30 and Under

We understand that sometimes you are on a budget or just need a little gift as a way of saying thank you, congratulations or well done.  $30 doesn't seem to go as far as it used to and more often than not when you buy a gift online the postage is an added extra which might just push you over your budget.

All our gifts in the Under $30 section include postage so you know exactly how much you are going to spend.  Ranging from $20-$27, those with a sweet tooth will be delighted with the gift which arrives on their doorstep.

3PM Pick Me Up Gift

I know the feeling - 3pm rolls around and you are feeling like you need a little energy boost.  This pick me up gift features 300g of mixed lollies and chocolates to keep you going until the end of the day.

Just Chocolates

The name says it all!  Half a kilo of yummy chocolates including Clinkers, Bullets, Caramel Buds, Cobbers and Jaffas.  And if your budget allows, for an extra $10 you can add a coloured teddy bear of your choice.

Just Lollies

For those that prefer just lollies - this gift is for them.  500g of Chicos, F1 Race Cars, Pineapples, Milk bottles and more.  Again add a teddy bear of your choice if you wish.

Spotty Treats Gift

Our spotty gift box is very popular and is perfect as a get well or thank you gift.  This box includes a scrumptious mix of chocolates and lollies - 500g of deliciousness.

So don't let your budget stand in the way of letting a loved one know how much you care.  A little gift can go a long way and can really make someone's day.

And if you order before 3.30pm, they will be sent out the very same day for next business day delivery.

The Calm Before The Storm

November for me has always been a strange month; it is the calm before the Christmas storm so to speak.

It is however in reality, a great time for me to get organised and mentally prepare for the busy weeks ahead. I am able to plan, restock and deal with the increased number of customer service enquiries which grace my doorstep.

While orders are still coming in, generally November for retailers is nowhere near as hectic as December - in particular the last couple of weeks prior to Christmas.

For me the last week before Christmas is actually extremely pleasant as I am officially on holiday - Rainbow Designs' Christmas cut-off date is the 17 December.  If we left it any later, there would be a lot of unhappy campers amongst us as the orders would not be guaranteed to arrive before Christmas Day.  As it is, the postal workers and courier companies are already working overtime in preparation for the festive holiday.

So today I thought I would share with you two new products which are available for the Christmas season.

The first is our Nuts About Christmas Hamper.  It comes already packed in a gift box and includes Christmas blend coffee, macadamia nut fudge, honey roasted cashews, a brownie bite and a pack of organic licorice.  Delicious, right?

The second gift is our Santa's Puppy Pack.  It features an adorable Joyce & Co puppy dog, Freckleberry chocolate Christmas tree and 20 chocolate baubles.  Imagine the surprise on Christmas morning when they open that one.  Again it comes already packaged in a lovely gift hamper box for ease.

I hope that this time of year is not proving to be too stressful for you.  We aim to take the stress out of Christmas with our delicious range of gifts and hampers, so if we can help you in way, just give us a shout!

7 Weeks Until Christmas

Alright...I said it...don't shoot the messenger!

Christmas is not that far away (sorry!) particularly when you take into account that last orders will be taken 17 December 2013 and even earlier for corporate orders, 11 December 2013 which is essentially only 5 weeks away.

But I would like to add that many of you are already very organised when it comes to your Christmas shopping.  Corporate orders are starting to come in and we have had a number of enquiries from expats abroad asking about sending gifts to their loved ones back in Australia.

Way to go - I am very impressed as I know I am behind in my personal Christmas shopping - so hats off to you!  I also know that my friends and family love receiving gifts from Rainbow Designs so that always makes shopping a little bit easier especially when I often leave things to the last minute.

Are you the same?  Do you tend to be a last minute shopper or are you a person who is very organised and stockpiles gifts throughout the year?  We are all very different when it comes to our shopping habits but one thing we all have in common is that we want to ensure that our gifts reach our loved ones safe and sound and give them as much enjoyment as possible.

Buying Gifts For Men

Apparently buying for men is difficult - we hear this from our customers all the time.  Until they discover our website that is - we hear that a lot from our customers as well.

Shopping for the boys in your life need not be hard particularly if a) they like to drink or b) they like to eat. Think about their likes and dislikes and pretty soon you should be able to narrow down a gift or two to suit.

If he likes beer - then we have 10 - yes 10 beer gift hampers that he may appreciate.  This would include lovers of ale, cider or lager.

If wine is his thing, then we can help here too or coffee for that matter.  See how easy it is!

Moving onto the next course, is he into pizza, Spanish or Moroccan cuisine or prefers tucking into some sushi or pancakes perhaps?

And we can't forget dessert.  Does he like ice cream or is he more of a cheese lover.  Does he have a sweet tooth?  If so he might enjoy one of our lolly, chocolate or fudge gifts or perhaps licorice or ginger is more to his taste.

If you really want to make an impression then consider sending his gift to his workplace - that way his colleagues will be envious of his gift and the thoughtful gift giver behind the gift.

See - we aim to please!

Relying on Others

We all have to rely on others whether it be the bus driver to get the kids to school, the phone company to connect your phone and internet, couriers to deliver your parcels, the bank to process your pay......it's part of life. What we have to make sure we don't do is to rely on a single person or business without any backup plan if they let us down. Unfortunately I haven't done it with my business and am now racing around madly trying to find an alternative company to help me. Frustrating and inconvenient to say the least BUT I should have had a backup plan!

With Christmas fast approaching this is the last thing I need to have to worry about - finding a new supplier. It means that I'll have to rush in and possibly use a company I haven't before and not really know if they're reliable or if their products are of great quality. This week will be all about finding a replacement as I don't think my current supplier is worth the hassles of dealing with, as disappointing as that is because I loved the products I was getting from them (when they ever had stock - which is the WHOLE issue of needing to change).

So, a bit of advice, DO NOT RELY ON SOMEONE without having alternatives to go to. Follow up on enquiries often with your current suppliers etc and don't just assume they're doing 'their thing' because if you leave it and then find out they haven't done what you thought they were doing it can leave you in a bit of a bind!

Time for a coffee and maybe an M&M or two!

Have a great day and remember to eat some lollies!

Jacqui
Rainbow Designs - you CAN rely on us :-)

Payment Options

Our most popular form of payment by our customers is by credit card, generally Visa or Mastercard (Visa just pips Mastercard), we do also accept Amex and Diners but find these are mainly used by businesses. I don't mind people not using Amex or Diners as the bank fees for these are a lot higher than regular credit cards (2 almost 3 times higher!)

Paypal is the next favourite way to pay with some days outdoing Visa/Mastercard, most payments with Paypal are by people who have a Paypal account so are using their balance - very rare but on occasion we do receive eCheque payment through Paypal. These work similar to normal bank cheques in the fact that we have to wait for them to clear first before processing the order.

We occasionally receive orders using direct deposit as payment but these are becoming fewer and fewer - a good thing about direct deposit is that we don't have to pay any fees (like we do for credit cards and paypal payments) but a downside is that we can get 'scammers' trying to get their order set before we have received payment into our bank account! Sadly I have fallen for this before BUT not any more - no orders are sent until we have received payment, no matter how urgent it is. We do recommend using another form of payment for urgent orders as we want to be able to help but not at the expense of losing money!

Money orders and cheques are also a payment option but these are used very little - which makes sense really. You're ordering online to save having to go to the shops but then if you pay by cheque or money order you have to either go to the bank or post office and then post it off and wait, wait, wait for us to receive it plus if it's a cheque there's even more time waiting for it to clear. Not very 21st century!

Until next time, use your mastercard and send someone some lollies!

Jacqui