Delighting You With Experiences As Gifts - Delightgifts.in
Mother’s Day is just around the corner and if you are not yet sure what you would like to give your mummy darling, checkout Delightgifts.in and see if you like anything you see. Gifting has been an integral part of Indian culture. Though with time outlook of people towards has changed from chocolates, flowers and clothes to spa treatments, learning horse riding or adventure sports. A new class of consumers, termed as “transumers” have emerged and these types place more importance on transformative experiences and delights rather than material possessions.
The concept of experiential gifting is very common in Europe but is relatively new to India. Delightgifts.in was launched by Pooja Lal and is the first experiential gifting portal of India which offers people various such means to express their love for people they love. The portal offers hundreds of experiences including vouchers and gift items for individuals as well as corporates to suite their budget. Close to 90 brands such as Café Coffee Day, Oberoi Hotels, Olive restaurant, VLCC, Neemrana hotels and many luscious spas spread across India, have partnered with the site. Customers can choose from categories like gourmet, spa & salon, adventure sports, entertainment, creative and hotel getaways to gift. So one can pick from fine dining to cooking, wine tasting to tea brewing or take up something totally adventurous with river rafting and trekking etc.
“Amidst the various categories of gifts, our USP lies in our Gift Concierge Service where our consultant team helps the customer search, choose, track, navigate through categories, complete purchase process, choose payment options, book and share experiences,” says Pooja. Each purchase is followed by an email confirmation giving details of courier, delivery, date & time to track the order. Recipients have an option of picking one from three alternative dates to visit and experience the unsaid. Every experience is recorded by way of feedback both from the customer and the service partner.
The portal attracts a lot of customer traffic for Date reminder and Delight Wish list service. On special occasions in person’s life s/he can create a wish list of gifts they desire to receive from their family members, friends etc. The portal on behalf of the customer, then sends these experience preference mails to each contact mentioning their choice of gifts. Reminder mails are also sent about dates, birthday’s, special occasions and choices of experiences etc.
Customer is king for Delightgifts.in and they do a lot of activities to ensure they take into account their preference, likes and dislikes while offering gifting options. Those who seek high quality experience/service and do not mind paying for it, can have all their needs taken care off by Delightgifts.in. Pooja shares an instance where a customer had booked a dinner through the site, but they made it a little special by gifting them wine and flowers to make the occasion more special/
Each service partner that Delightgifts.in works with, is handpicked to ensure the best quality experiences. Partners are picked on the basis of their own popularity, customer rating, customer reviews, brand awareness, customer service, accessibility and vision. Any negative feedback about the partners is discussed and corrected to the best possible level.
Pooja is not too happy being compared to portals like Snapdeal or Jabong, which operate in a similar environment. “We are not any deals website nor do we offer any kind of discounts, instead we sell gifts to all those who wish to express their feelings through us. Our pricing is at par with service partner pricing and hence there is no ambiguity or hidden charges. The customers enjoy flexibility and free exchange of vouchers within 12 months of purchase,” explains Pooja.
The business works on very low margins and they draw a commission for every voucher redeemed or booked when receiving the payment from service partners. Only those partners are added to the service list who are open to the concept of online sales and marketing. “For larger brands we are an additional channel for gifting which is not their focus area, but we take care of it. For the small business service partner, we are perhaps the only online sales channel. So it is a win-win for both,” says Pooja. Digital marketing via SEO, PPC and social media is the preferred way to market for the portal. Bruce Clay India Pvt. Ltd has been empanelled to manage digital marketing needs of the venture. The portal has also run few promotional campaigns for cardholders and customers of American Express and KVB Bank as well.
“We started as a self-funded venture and have come a long way today. I believe we are sitting on a gold mine, with a lot in pipe line in the coming years. We have been successful in each order we have completed in terms of timely delivery, quality of experience or product and customer satisfaction. Corporate rewards and events are a big focus area for us in the coming years and we are in the process of tying up with 8 loyalty companies in India to offer our experience catalog,” says Pooja very proudly.
