Finding the Perfect Gift with Giften Market

Gift giving in and of itself is a difficult task. As the gift giver you want to find something meaningful, but also unique; it must be in your price range, but most importantly, it must be something the gift receiver will LOVE. This often becomes very stressful for the gift giver and Covid-19 has offered no relief in this process. Luckily for consumers, Giften Market, a Minneapolis based online store offers a one stop shop providing consumers with specially curated gift boxes for any occasion.

Founder and owner of Giften Market, Martha Krueger started her online shop in November of 2019, only a few months before the novel Coronavirus came to the United States. In the past, Krueger found it difficult in her own life to find the perfect gift for others and because of that, she wanted to provide a way to make this process easier for consumers. Krueger describes the products she sells as high-quality, and unique; these are products you cannot get from large corporations like, Target or Amazon.

Giften Market offers customers both the choice to build their own gift box with many unique products or they can choose from one of Giften’s specially curated gift boxes for any special occasion.

“The problem that sparked it all in my own life was being like, ‘oh, I like shopping, but gift shopping is really stressful,’ and I think a lot of people have the same problem,” Krueger said. “It seemed like there was a market for a gifting focused retail store. Those factors combined, I decided to do this. It felt like I knew enough about the nuts and bolts of business to go about this and enough of the marketing aspect; I didn’t find that learning the retail and wholesale part was that difficult, so it allowed me to get started pretty quickly.”

Giften Market is currently an online only store. Before Covid-19 hit, Krueger signed two short-term leases to test out in-person sales, one located in Minneapolis and the other in Minnetonka. These two locations are currently on-hold until it is safe for Krueger to open and for customers to shop. Through pop-up shops Krueger hosted prior to quarantine, she noticed that products like jewelry and beauty care did better when customers could touch, feel and try them in-person. Her hope was to continue this aspect of Giften through her two leased locations.

“What was cool [about the pop-up shops], was that people were introduced to Giften, so then they would follow along on social media or sign-up for our emails and then become a customer offering,” Krueger said. “I want to explore that a little bit more.”

Krueger’s goal for the company is to stay true to the mission of simplifying gifting and relieving the stress that comes with it. While still in year one, she is going through the trial and error process of perfecting the company. Customer feedback has been extremely helpful to Krueger in figuring out what different gift avenues to explore and what to cut back on.

With Covid-19 cancelling many plans and remaining persistent in our everyday lives, Giften Market offers consumers the perfect way to show their care and affection by sending a meaningful gift, all the while, social distancing.