Top tools to start a personalized gift store (2025 guide)

The gift industry is more competitive than ever. To make your products stand out, you’ll need the right tools to promote your personalized gift business.

Buffer

Buffer makes it easy to plan and schedule social media posts so you stay consistent without being glued to your phone.

Why it’s great:

• Drag-and-drop calendar for managing posts across major social platforms. 

• AI-powered tools for generating social media copy.

• Analytics to track engagement and best posting times on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and more. 

Ideal for: Automating your social media tasks. 

Klaviyo

Want to boost customer loyalty and keep people coming back? One of the most effective ways to do that is through email and SMS marketing. Klaviyo helps you stay top of mind with messages your customers actually want to open. 

Why it’s great:

• Templates to create automated messages like welcome emails and abandoned cart reminders.

• Tools to segment your customers and send more relevant personalized product recommendations.

• An AI subject line generator to help boost engagement.

Ideal for: Driving repeat business and staying connected with customers.

CapCut

If you plan to create video content for TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts, you’ll need a smart video editor like CapCut. 

Why it’s great:

• Ready-made templates, music, and effects. 

• Easy tools to add text, transitions, and animations that show off your amazing personalized gifts.

• Optimized for vertical video, so everything fits the format of today’s top platforms.

Ideal for: Making scroll-stopping videos without hiring a professional. 

Whether you’re selling goofy photo mugs or sleek, sustainable personalized gifts, understanding what’s working in your business is key to growing it. These analytics tools help you track customer behavior and make smarter decisions.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics shows who’s visiting your site, what they’re clicking on, and how they found you. It’s one of the most powerful free tools to measure your online store’s performance. 

Why it’s great:

• Tracks where your traffic comes from and what pages perform best.

• Helps you understand what drives sales and where customers drop off.

• Pairs well with other business tools like Google Ads and Search Console.

Ideal for: Making data-driven decisions to improve your store.

Similarweb

Similarweb lets you see where competitor traffic comes from, what keywords they rank for, and how people find their stores, helping you spot new selling opportunities.

Why it’s great: 

• Analyze competitor websites to see what’s driving their traffic.

• Discover which traffic channels work best in your niche.

• Explore real-time data on personalized gift market trends to guide your next product.

Ideal for: Doing market research before launching a new personalized gift product or staying ahead of competitors. 

Read more
Best digital tools for launching a new business 

These platforms help you deliver a better shopping service and turn happy customers into repeat buyers. 

Tidio

Tidio lets you chat with customers in real time or use AI chatbots to answer common questions, even when you’re offline.

Why it’s great:

• Brings all your customer messages from live chat, email, and Messenger into one place.

• Chatbots can answer common questions like shipping times or personalization options.

• Built-in analytics that show how your chats are performing. 

Ideal for: Offering customer support without hiring a team. 

Loox

Loox is a Shopify app that helps you collect and display reviews from happy customers, turning social proof into sales.

Why it’s great:

• Automatically sends review requests after each order.

• Customers can upload photos of their personalized gifts as testimonials.

• Referral feature to reward customers for sharing your store with friends and family. 

Ideal for: Building trust and helping potential buyers see your personalized products in real life.

Let’s see how to bring all these tools together and start a personalized gift business.

1. Decide what to sell

Create a personalized gift business plan and choose which niche to focus on – pet lovers, newlyweds, corporate personalized gifts? Focusing on a specific target audience makes it easier for your brand to stand out. 

Use tools like Similarweb for market research or explore what’s currently best-selling on Etsy. 

2. Sign up for Printful and connect your store

Create your free Printful account and connect it to your online store on Shopify, Squarespace, Etsy, TikTok Shop, or others. Check out the Integrations category in our Help Center for detailed setup guides. 

3. Create your personalized products

Choose a customizable item from our Product Catalog. Then, add your design in one of two ways:

• Use our Design Maker to upload your own photos or artwork, or choose from thousands of built-in clipart, fonts, and templates. 

• Upload a finished design you created in tools like Canva, Adobe Photoshop, or Adobe Illustrator. 

To offer personalization with Printful, read the guides below:

4. Start selling

Go ahead and publish the products to your shop. From there, simply track what’s working on your store with Google Analytics, use promotional tools like Klaviyo and Buffer, and improve your customer experience with Tidio or Loox. 

Quick tip
Need a full walkthrough? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to start a print-on-demand business.