On The Up: Small Business - Giftbox Boutique’s journey from garage start-up to pandemic success

Giftbox Boutique has about 150 different gift boxes to choose from, containing a selection of upwards of 200 local New Zealand products.

Katie Gray, co-founder of Giftbox Boutique, talks to Tom Raynel about starting the business from her mum’s garage and thriving during the pandemic. Each Monday, we interview a small business owner, which is now a regular feature of NZME’s editorial campaign On The Up, showcasing uplifting stories of success, inspiration and possibilities.

What is the Giftbox Boutique?

Giftbox Boutique is an online gifting studio dedicated to offering a collection of modern and memorable gifts. Think of us as your personal gift-gathering service, pulling together swoon-worthy gifts that you will be proud to give.

What inspired you to start the business, and what were those early days like?

We started back in 2016 in a garage, so the quintessential New Zealand business story. When we started out gift baskets were very old-fashioned. I felt like there was an opportunity for something that could be much more premium. We also recognised the shift that was starting to happen between traditional bricks and mortar and online shopping.

My background is in marketing, and my husband’s is in sales and digital marketing, so we had a good skill set and understanding of what it takes to launch a business online. We jumped into the deep end, quit our jobs, and much to our surprise, as much as anyone else’s to be honest, the business has just grown from there.

Giftbox Boutique operated out of co-founder Katie Gray's mum's garage, stacking orders to the ceiling until it had to find a bigger space.

How do you choose what goes into each box?

We have about 150 different gift boxes to choose from which contain a selection of upwards of 200 local New Zealand products, everything from wine and craft beer to home fragrances and homewares.

We’re lucky now we’re the size we are, we get approached daily with companies that are wanting us to put their products in our boxes. And so we are quite strict in terms of what criteria we work with.

The first thing for us is we’re an online store, so our customers can’t touch, feel, or smell the product, so it has to look amazing to begin with because they’re shopping with their eyes.

Secondly, the product has to be high-quality and taste amazing. Thirdly, we also like to partner with New Zealand suppliers where possible. Our preference is typically for products that aren’t stocked in a supermarket. For things that feel a little bit more premium, we like to try and partner with some small New Zealand producers, because that’s also a nice way for us to be able to help support other small businesses to help them get their brands out to customers.

How was the Covid-19 pandemic for the business?

Covid was a very interesting time for us. We were coming off the back of really strong growth and then retail shut down. I always explain it that it was like adding fuel to a fire, we just went ballistic.

We were lucky that we were still able to operate with a skeleton crew, because at the start things were very unknown, and we were all trying to work out how to work safely, but to still be able to help our customers. Demand just went absolutely crazy, I think we had something like 200-300% growth during those Covid times.

Growth brings with it its own sets of challenges. One of the things that’s always been really important and an absolute non-negotiable for us is product quality. So for us, whether it’s one gift box or 1000 gift boxes going out the door, I want them to look equally amazing.

So it was about managing the volume of sales to make sure that output quality didn’t decline in any way, because that’s our brand and our business, and I want every customer that receives a boutique gift box to have an amazing experience.

Katie and Andy Gray, co-founders of Giftbox Boutique, started the business after spotting a gap in the premium gift box market.

What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur wanting to start a business?

My biggest piece of advice would be to trust your instincts and just give it a go. I think it’s easy to doubt yourself and to spend too long polishing something before getting it out there.

One of the big things, especially with online marketing, is people talk about minimum viable product in terms of getting something live and testing it to see what the feedback is. If you spend too long in your planning phase, you’ll never feel ready. There will come a time when you just have to leap, because things won’t be 100% perfect.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.