The business that makes you smile

Great ideas for businesses often come through personal experience. For Tom and Hannah Wrench the genesis for starting up Smile Box came in 2017 with their own search to find the ideal small gift for someone.

As Tom puts it, “just a little something to let them know we were thinking of them”.

“But we couldn’t find anything online that cost less than an arm and a leg. So, we thought, why not put something ‘affordable’ out there to see how it goes?”

Tom and Hannah launched a very basic website with just a few gift options and told their friends and family about it on social media. Smile Box was born.

“We both had full-time jobs at the time to support us financially, so Smile Box was a bit of a feel-good pet project, and we were interested to see where it could go,” recalls Tom.

The couple, who have one wee boy and a baby on the way, brought zero business experience with them, apart from Tom’s small import/reselling gig on TradeMe during his university days. His forté has always been data analytics, while Hannah worked in photography and design.

From day one of Smile Box the primary point of difference has consistently been about the affordability and simplicity of the offering.

“There are numerous so-called premium gift offerings out there, but we wanted to offer a gift selection that was affordable and personalised enough to send for those occasions when it’s the thought that counts,” explains Tom.

“The initial feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many of our first customers saying it was great they could send a personalised gift from the convenience of their home for under $20 delivered.

“Customers also valued the more profound concept of Smile Box, which is about not just sending a gift, but making someone smile.”

There have been many celebrations during the past five years as Smile Box has passed key metric milestones – notably 50,000 gifts sent, and in the most recent financial year passing the $1 million mark in sales.

“In terms of business growth, what has been most surprising is finding that our primary source of new customers, both business and non-business, is organic,” says Tom. “We’ve never reached out to businesses, done any cold-calling, or anything like that – yet over the past couple of years we’ve had hundreds of Kiwi companies, many of which are iconic brands, send thousands of Smile Boxes.

“When we get big orders from some of New Zealand’s leading retailers and financial institutions, it’s like… wow, how on earth did they find us?

“Inevitably, word of mouth or someone at the business using Smile Box in a personal capacity and then recommending us, is generally the answer.”
 

Lessons and community initiatives
It doesn’t pay to be shy when growing a small business. Tom and Hannah learned this lesson very early on. Now they know it’s important to blow your own trumpet loud and hard when you’ve had a ‘win’, says Tom.

“Hannah and I have always been rather reserved, so shouting from the rooftops is pretty foreign to us. But people, particularly existing customers, love to hear good news stories. Plus, it gets the brand out there which results in more exposure and, ultimately, new business.”

Getting the brand out there is also a by-product of several community initiatives which the couple have worked on.
One was setting up their ‘Raise a Smile’ charitable fund, where they collect a small portion of the proceeds from every Smile Box sent. Every few months they then donate the fund to a chosen charity or charitable cause around New Zealand.
In 2023 Tom and Hannah also want to fully launch their Local Heroes initiative, which they’ve been testing in a couple of locations around the country.

As the name suggests, it’s about recognising local heroes in communities around New Zealand who don’t get the recognition they deserve.
 

Taking the plunge
Tom and Hannah say the scariest time of their Smile Box journey to date is when they decided to pack in their full-time employment and go all in with the business.

“Although a risk, it was a calculated risk and resulted in a giant uptick in business due to the extra time we could dedicate to it,” recalls Tom.

Looking back, they believe they should have left their full-time employment earlier than when they did.

If anyone is in a similar situation of thinking about leaving their job with the business numbers stacking up to go all in, their advice is to ‘just do it’.

“Working on and growing your own business, instead of someone else’s, is one of the most rewarding, albeit challenging, things you can do,” says Tom.
 

More to smile about
With the brakes applied by Covid-19 now released, this smart little business and finalist in The David Awards 2022, is looking to stabilise sales turnover and spread its wings offshore.

“Gifting is traditionally a seasonal business, with peaks in the weeks prior to Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day,” explains Tom. “It would be great in 2023 to stabilise sales outside of these peak times by partnering up with other companies for recurring business and trying some new marketing initiatives.”

The overall concept of Smile Box has also received varying amounts of interest overseas, so the couple are looking at various ways to best achieve possible overseas expansion.

“We know there’s an opportunity for our concept in Australia and various other markets, and we have had contact from people in other countries asking if there’s anything like Smile Box in their country,” says Tom. “We’ve been servicing some Australian customers from our base in Wanaka, but delivery costs and times could be better. Therefore, it would be great to have a base in Aussie to service the market over there properly.

“So, watch this space.”