2ND DECEMBER 2002~
Raising a glass to company's runaway success 
SUPER SURFER ... computer whiz kid Mark designed the website. |
EVERYONE likes to receive carefully chosen and exquisitely wrapped presents at Christmas. In reality, though, the Christmas shopping frenzy often leaves little time for such niceties. JANIS BLOWER has been meeting a South Shields mother and son, however, who make giving attractive and customised gifts as easy as pressing a button. JANET Nye and Mark Berriman are on the booze from morning to night. Gin, whisky, rum, wine by the crateful. It's only a pity that they seldom get time to sit down to enjoy a tipple of their own.
Instead, virtually their every waking hour is consumed with meeting the demands of their customers for that crock of gold at the end of the consumer rainbow that's known as hassle-free gift shopping. The idea of choosing Christmas presents that are then personalised, gift-wrapped and delivered for us - all without leaving our armchairs - appeals to the lazy side in most of us.
How about a bottle of Krug champagne for the neighbours at £86 a pop, or Remy Martin XO brandy at £115 per bottle as a bit of a stocking filler for the old man? Come to that, even a £4 bottle of vino in a glitzy bag, bought and delivered for £5.99 without the need to cross the doorstep, suddenly begins to look appealing.
Little wonder, then, that after barely six months in business, their Gifts2Drink firm, which specialises in hand-delivered spirits, wine, chocolates etc, is booming. Their clients, many of them Blue Chip companies, including multi-national corporations and the media, just can't get enough of the service that's as painless as picking-up a telephone or pressing a button on a computer.
Nothing's too much for them. When one company wanted 3,600 mince pies for gift bags for their staff, they got them. A bottle of Hennessy Paradis at £249 for an executive's Christmas gratuity? No problem. Engraved glasses, flowers, personalised labels - if there's someone you want to schmooze, they'll do it.
The idea came to co-owner Janet when she was running a wine shop at The Nook. "I knew I couldn't compete with the supermarkets on price, so I started making gifts up," she said. "People have always given bottles as presents, but just by the shape of them, you tend to know what you're getting even before you've unwrapped them. But putting them in a box made them more of a surprise."
Janet was joined in the enterprise by her son Mark, a 22-year-old computer whiz kid who has designed the company's website. They eventually obtained premises at TEDCO and, after much consultation with the police and the magistrates - it was pretty untrodden ground so far as the authorities were concerned - they became the only web-based gift company in the north east to be granted a license to sell alcohol over the Internet. "It was a bit of a leap into the unknown," said Janet, "which is why we thought we'd try it when we still had the shop."
The first order was from Texas, for champagne to be delivered in the South of England. At the moment they can only deliver within the UK because of the export regulations, but hope to be delivering abroad by next year. Since then other orders have flooded in, not just from this country but from Hong Kong, Australia, Switzerland, Mauritius and the Cayman Islands. They offer more than 500 different types of gift, which can range from a single bottle of wine, to hampers of drink, chocolates, biscuits, cheese etc, with engraved glassware if required.
"We try to cater for anything that the customer asks for, even if it's something for granny who doesn't drink," said Janet. Sometimes the orders are deeply opulent, like the rare bottle of champagne they were asked to supply. "It's not available in this country so we had to import it from France," said Mark. "Similarly you can't buy Bacardi Spice in this country but we have a supply and are the only website that sell it."
Most people come to them through roaming search engines on the Internet looking for firms who will supply alcohol as a gift. There are still only half-a-dozen who will, and in a recent mystery shopper exercise, Gifts2Drink came out as one of the best.
They emphasise, however, that they are not an off-license for the thirsty cyber surfer. Quite the reverse: their eyes are set on becoming the premiere gift service on the web.
Their customer is the family member who can't make it to the wedding and wants to send champagne and truffles for £34.99. He's the son at the other end of the country to mum on Mother's Day, the fiancé working abroad, the appreciative boss, the business contact, the time-poor, money-rich professional.
"We're specifically aimed at the luxury end of the market," said Mark.
And there's certainly no shortage of business. They expect to do around £100,000-worth of trade in the run-up to Christmas. Among the best-sellers are Moet & Chandon champagne, and a lot of whisky. There are novelties, too, like bottles of Old Git and Old Tart.
It's stressful, and sometimes even dad Tony gets called on to help deliver gift boxes to the other end of the country, so that they can meet their promise of next day delivery anywhere in the UK.
They hope eventually to expand into bigger premises, and to diversify into delivering flowers as well. Janet is already a partner in a florist's shop in Jesmond.
She admits it leaves her no time to herself. "But then I'm one of those people who must be doing something. I'm on the go all the time," she said.
And Mark? Well you can believe he's only half-joking when he says he'll be driving his first Porsche by next year.
For more information on the range of gifts click on http://www.gifts2drink.co.uk/ or telephone (0800) 0714 438 for a free catalogue.