Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) An Indo-French venture Wednesday launched a unique concept of gifting in the country — seen as a Rs.3,000 crore market in two years — that allows a wide range of services to be given as present in areas such as wellness and adventure.

Called DhoomBox, the services are offered in pleasantly packed gift boxes, with vouchers and catalogues. The user can redeem the vouchers at any of the 30-40 locations listed in each package after choosing the service.

“We have initially started with three categories — wellness and children for the Delhi region and adventure for the whole of India,” said Mathieu Jouve-Villard, director of DhoomBox Concept, which has launched the new gifting solution.

“Soon, DhoomBox will offer more options like Gastronomy and Getaway, all over India,” added Jouve-Villard, who conceptualised the gifting solution for the Indian market. “What is available in India today are gift vouchers with very limited choice.”

The concept of “gifting in a box” kicked off in the 1980s in Belgium and has found success in Europe and many countries around the world. It has some 400 million patrons. In France alone this market was estimated at over $3 billion in 2010, officials said.

“Our internal research pegs the market size for such boxes in India at around Rs.3,000 crore in the next two years. This is slated to grow to Rs.22,500 crore by 2020. We are early movers and aim at remaining market leaders,” said co-founder Jeremy Grasset.

Once a “DhoomBox” has been gifted, the receiver can browse through the catalogue, choose any of the services on offer, access the same assisted by a customer care executive and pay for it using the voucher, Grasset explained.

“Since this is a gift, the voucher does not mention the price. Each category will come in silver, gold and platinum boxes in a price-range of Rs.500 to Rs.8,999. It can be bought from select outlets in Delhi, as also online on www.dhoombox.com.”

In the “Wellness DhoomBox” for example, there are 40 options to choose from — such as spa treatments, swimming lessons, yoga sessions, feng-shui consultancy and martial arts training. Similar choices are available in other categories.

The company also plans to expand the DhoomBox concept to other major cities in the country. Also on cards are several tie-ups with online shopping portals, while a retail debut is planned in a few months.

“We will soon go to other metros such as Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, and Pune,” said Blanche Martin, country head of DhoomBox. She feels the concept will appeal to corporate houses, who send gifts to their high-net clients and other stakeholders.