Business Opportunities Weblog

December 14, 2006 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

CourierNewsOnline.com:

A few months ago, Christina Anderson was looking for a unique birthday present for her husband, perhaps race car lessons like a friend’s husband received.

That search for an out-of-the-ordinary item piqued Anderson’s interest in “experiential gifts,” where shoppers buy things to do instead of things to have. The growing trend in the $2.8 trillion retail market might account for as much as $282 billion of that business.

The Excitations Web site launched in the autumn of 2005 with Washington, D.C.-area offerings before expanding to New York and Philadelphia. It recently added the Chicago area to its roster and soon will have offerings from the San Francisco Bay area.

The 78 items listed from in and around the Windy City also include a year of polo lessons from the Barrington Hills Polo Club in Wauconda ($835); a birds of prey photo shoot at a nature preserve in Itasca ($135); a helicopter flight in Lansing ($130); renting an exotic car for a day ($1,895); two fighter pilot lessons in Kankakee ($1,915); a kids’ paintball party in Joliet ($360); a poker party for 50 ($5,500); and a hot glass workshop in Highland Park ($100).

Photo by Excitations.

In Ideas, Internet, Niche, Public Relations, Sales, Startup | 1 Comment