Luxury gifting portal GiftVault.com enters India, partners with the Chateau Indage family
GiftVault.com becomes the latest entrant in the ecommerce market of India. Estimated to be a worth Rs 1.9 billion, the space has many well-entrenched brands already operating here. GiftVault is owned by Lee Greenberg, a formerly Beijing-based new media fundraising and venture capital specialist, and Violetta Winkworth-Gruosi, a luxury expert, and the daughter of the head of Geneva-based jewellery brand De Grisogono.
In India, GiftVault is being headed by well-known entrepreneur Kavita Chougule, who has launched and heads a couple of other ventures. Kavita also belongs to the Chateau Indage family, one of the oldest wine company in India. GiftVault is positioned in the luxury gifting space and will have niche, handpicked and meticulously curated luxury gifts by luxury experts. The site will have on offer products like Missoni throws to Christofle silverware, mini trees made entirely of sweets and handcrafted leather games. Apart from these, few select products are only available on GiftVault like De Grisogono’s leather bags or Super Leggera & Lazerian bespoke carbon fibre coffee table.
The twist in the tale for GiftVault.com is the social network aspect that it has. The site allows users to share wishlists, gift ideas and experiences, upload videos, shop via Facebook, and more. The GiftVault.com planner also helps users receive SMS/email reminders of special occasions.
We asked Kavita, how GiftVault will be different from sites like Limeroad.com, which also works on the principle of gifting based on friend recommendations and suggestions. “Limeroad appears to be a general fashion and lifestyle site, while GiftVault.com is a completely bespoke website that has integrated an e-commerce platform with social networking,” says Kavita. GiftVault.com has two main parts, the eCommerce side and the social side. The social side also includes the ability to create a giftlist, says Kavita.
The GiftVault India team currently comprises 10 people, and their target customers are people who have good spending power, but not necessarily the time to seek out individual gifts from friends and family. “Our customers would prefer to have ‘one-click access’ to a pre selected selection of gifts they can trust will be of a certain calibre. GiftVault.com’s customer has everything money can buy and so do the people they are buying for. They want to buy true gifts that are going to surprise. GiftVault.com’s customer likes and owns brand names,” explains Kavita.
The venture is currently relying on PR, web-based marketing, and niche events to reach their potential clientele.
