How often do we feel lost trying to think of an appropriate gift to give our friends, family or acquaintances on occasions like birthdays or anniversary or some special achievement? Many people just about pick any item to carry with them for gifting. In most cases that gift gets dumped in some corner or handed away to someone just like that.

People do not have infinite budget for the gifts but put lot of thought in selecting a particular gift. The receiver of the gift not only receives a physical item but the message of how well the other person knows or values the relationship.

Corporate gifting also goes through the same dynamics like personal intimate gifts. The corporate gifts have a little more materialistic approach considering the recipients are usually clients. The choice of gift also conveys certain image of the company. Here the choice and budget and the timing of the gift are of prime importance.

Today this segment of gifting is big and serious business. Gifting Ideas is one of India's largest solutions driven gifting organization.  They have deep experience of more than 13 years of in the industry. The company has over 5,000 products in their beautiful gifting catalogues, including an additional 300-600 new products introduced every year.

Their forte is reliability! From designer writing instruments to exquisite Indian handicrafts; seasonal to last-minute gifts; desktop to outdoor gifts; small to large quantities; exclusive registered designs, trophies, leather articles, electronics or technical gifts; they have them all. The company also stocks around 80 branded products over and above the generic gifts. They are the exclusive Indian representatives of the BIG Catalogue, which comes from Europe's largest gifting company Midoceanbrands (Spain) and also exclusively represent other international catalogues like LEXON (France) and XINDAO (Holland).




In this exclusive interview with the Director of Gifting Ideas, Suvir Khullar, SMEWORLD probes into the company's prospects, scope for MSMEs in this area, and the entrepreneurial drive that led to the establishment of the company.

What is main idea behind launching Gifting Ideas especially when it is relatively a new concept?

Gifting industry in India though growing at a fast pace is highly unorganized. There are hardly any companies who provide an end-to-end gifting solution to their customers. This means if they provide gifts, then they may not provide branding or logistic solutions to their customers. Also one company may not provide all kind of gifts, for example: if a company is into leather products then they may not able to help their customer with trophies.

That's the reason we launched Gifting Ideas, to look after the customer's gifting and allied needs.  From seasonal gifts to last-minute gifts, desktop gifts to outdoor gifts, small quantities to large quantities and trophies, leather articles, electronics, technical gifts etc. – we provide them all. Not only do we provide the gift required but also provide solutions for its design, printing, packaging, storage and despatch.   

The cult of giving gifts has radically changed over the years. Gifts are really in vogue these days for every occasion. What is the reason behind this?

Gifts nowadays are used as a medium to build and strengthen relationship with customers and employees. They are now almost expected in every client interaction and events.  Gifts are also used to further enforce salient features of a product or service. For example, to show a product / service as being flexible, a gift which is made of rubber may be chosen to better communicate that intent. To depict themselves as socially responsible, organizations prefer to give out gifts that are environment friendly. 

Today, gifts are more related to sentiments than value. Do you agree with this? Explain.

Yes, it is true that gifts are more related to sentiments than value. We are from the culture where from childhood we are taught to appreciate sentiments of a giftee than the value of the gift. Exactly the same thing is followed even in the corporate world where clients want products or gifts which will emotionally connect their customers or employees with them or their brand. 

How do you really operate? Is the business online? How do people order their gifts? Do you cater to clients across the country?

We have three SBUs in the company.

1. Direct Sales - At Gifting Ideas, doing direct business with Corporates is our forte. Over the last 15 years that we have been in the gifting industry we have worked with over 750 customers.  We specialize in servicing our corporate customers on multiple occasions with our differentiated product catalogue.  To strengthen our relationships with our clients even further, we have a special loyalty program for our clients - GI Select, where points earned can be redeemed for exciting gifts.

2. GiftZone - We offer a variety of thoughtfully designed solutions to motivate employees and other internal as well as external audience. Clients can choose between an online store, a physical store, merchandise catalogue or rewards and recognition program.

3. Channel Sales - This business unit works with gift and event management agencies who further sell our products to their customers.

Yes, we cater to clients across country.

How many people do you have in your team?

We have around 100 people, across 5 locations in India.

There may be a very big variety of gifts for different occasions: how do you manage to answer the demand?

ANS: We specialize in servicing our clients on multiple occasions like gifts for joining kits, customer meets, product launches, training programs, contest gifts, leave behinds, family day gifts, Diwali gifts to name a few. We plan our catalogue development every year keeping in mind all these occasions.

Do you stock gifts? Who are your suppliers and how do you find them? What is the extent of investments – initial and running?

Yes we maintain stocks. We have suppliers both in India as well as overseas. We visit exhibitions across the world every few months to find innovative products and reliable suppliers.   

Do you source from micro or small businesses? What about sourcing handicraft items etc from remote villages?

For us reliability is key. We would source from any supplier who can offer us quality, reliability and preferably some exclusivity in their product range. Yes, we do source handicrafts from across Indian villages. 

What kinds of gifts are popular?

Gifts which are innovative in nature are the most popular ones. Like our eco-friendly water powered clock, which needs only water to work (no batteries). Travel and leisure, and apparels are some of the most popular product categories.

Who all are your customers and how do you publicize your enterprise? Do you deal in only corporate gifting or cater to retail customers too?

Our customer base includes companies across industries - financial, automobile, IT-BPO, Media, etc. We publicize our company through e-mailers, direct mailers, catalogues, etc.

We have recently been appointed official licensees for some of Disney's product ranges. The Disney range and our brands Lexon and Epitome are sold in retail.

How did you setup the business? How much was your approximate seed capital? How did you arrange it? How do you manage your operating expenses and fund requirements?

After an initial 6-year stint with the Merchant Navy, I embarked on a different journey with a meager Rs. 5,000 in my pocket, and started a gifting venture in 1996. Gifting Ideas was originally conceived as Micro Solutions with car sun shades, as the only product. From there it has been an eventful and fulfilling journey.

MSMEs in India have continuous issues with credit. What about timeliness of payment from your clients? What is the usual credit period?

The usual credit period is 15-30 days.

What is your turnover and your growth plans?

We are expanding our warehouse capacity to more than 3 times in order to be able to handle increasing redemptions. We are aiming at doing 3 times more redemptions per day in the next 1 year. We are also enriching our web platform to make transacting better for our customers.  Our current working capital requirements are being managed through our banking relationships.  However we are also considering strategic investors who could help accelerate the growth of our company.  We have been growing at around 30% annually.