Gift basket firm begins Christmas season with 12% rise in sales

The Llobet Regals company in Sant Fruitós de Bages is a hive of activity. With a constant stream of clients and a production line at full throttle, Catalonia’s leading producer of gift baskets this year expects to surpass six million euros in turnover during the holiday period.

In fact, the firm has begun the Christmas season with a 12% rise in sales compared with the same period last year, thanks above all to “a more lively market and a situation of coming out of the recession," manager Ignasi Llobet tells ACN.

It is tradition in Catalonia for employees to receive a gift basket at Christmas from their company, yet Llobet also puts the rise in business down to individuals beginning to see gift baskets, which vary in price from ten to a thousand euros, as “an increasingly attractive” present.

New thematic packages

Llobet Regals has this year expanded its range, offering thematic packages based on such things as wine and food matching, local produce, vegan products or baskets for children. The manager points out their 'delicatessen' basket containing smoked salmon, nori algae and gin and tonic.

No traditional gift basket is complete without cava, turró nougat or the tubular biscuits known as neules. “From here, you can add embotits (cured cold cuts), a fish or delicatessen preserve, liqueurs or gin,” says Llobet. The most expensive basket made by the firm costs 1,200 euros.

The gift basket firm is particularly well-established among small and medium-sized firms but is now looking to attract larger companies and families. According to Llobet, companies are increasingly turning to these gifts for their staff “and this year could be one of the best years in our history,” he says.

Leaving the recession behind

The manager puts the 12% rise in sales down to “companies taking on more staff, something that has not happened for years, or the return of clients who stopped giving baskets because of the recession.” Llobet also says firms are now spending more money on each basket.

One of the company’s main objectives is to make gift baskets an option all year round and not only at Christmas. Llobet points out that some companies are offering their staff the possibility to buy baskets through the firm, which allows them to offer discounts of up to 40%.

Llobet Regals was set up as a company selling Christmas gift baskets to firms in 1968.