Gone are the days of planning weeks in advance for gifts. These days, there are plenty of options to choose from within the budget and choose the ones that align with personal preferences at the click of a button.

Winnie is an online gifting portal based in Chandigarh. They have been making great strides in this field for the past few years. It was started in 2013 by Sujeet Kumar Mishra, Chander Pal, Sonali Gaur and Abhishek Sharma.

"With increasing connectivity pan-India due to the internet revolution and cheap data plans and smartphones, Indians have started appreciating the ability to buy many gifts online that can be distributed to their loved ones living in other parts of India. Hence, a technology-enabled online gifting platform has been built. At Vinny, defined as best quality products at affordable prices. We promise to deliver within the time frame," says Sujeet Kumar Mishra, co-founder and CEO, Vinny.

According to the founder, when Winnie first launched, there was a dearth of online gifting solutions in India with an effective delivery network. The few companies operating in this space lacked robust technology solutions, making it challenging for customers to navigate them. Another major issue was the quality of products delivered, as most were different from what was displayed on the website.

It is this awareness of these shortcomings that has enabled Vinny to emerge as a strong technology-based company.

With its eight years of experience through trial and error, the company has developed the ability to provide a seamless experience by mapping the platform user's purchase intent. It can offer a variety of products that address the needs of different segments of the audience and ensure delivery of those products on a particular day or time to celebrate special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.

In addition, Winnie provides training and supply chain support to its vendors for on-time delivery and processes large volumes of orders. It provides high quality raw materials and imparts excellent baking skills through training programs to ensure consistency of taste and feel in its bakery products.

The team claims to have successfully completed 50,000 deliveries within five days of Valentine's week this year, of which 20,000 were delivered on February 14 itself. The popularity of the bakery products encouraged the startup to launch an on-ground vertical called Winnie Cake & More, which has now grown to over 100 outlets across India in just 15 months.

At Vinny Portal, you can choose from cakes, flowers, chocolates, plants, home decor, candles, metallic vases, gold plated gifts, crystal gifts, soft toys, accessories for men and women, perfumes, digital gifts, mugs, cushions, jewelery and personalized gifts. Among these, cakes, flower bouquets and chocolates are the most popular.

“We offer affordable products across all categories and control quality by ensuring that hyper local companies meet our stringent standards,” he adds.

They launch new collections and products every 15 days. The themes of these new launches are designed according to each festival and special days. They have also prepared a new product line for Diwali including a variety of dry fruits, cookies, personalized gadgets, plants and chocolates. New packaging was introduced for the entire range of products for Diwali. As the festive season favors sales, the team has introduced heavy discounts on a wide range of festive gift items and products.

When asked what sets them apart from their competitors in this space he said "Unlike others, all our products are delivered at the same time. We have the cheapest range of quality products across all categories and the highest repeat customers in the online gifting industry. Quality control for perishable gift items like flowers and seamless delivery experience. We also have over 100 retail outlets that help us ensure that."

According to indianretailer.com, India is said to be the fastest growing market for the e-commerce gifting sector, which is expected to grow to $200 billion by 2026. Vinnie's growth supports this prediction.

Its retail business -- Winnie's Cake & More -- was launched 15 months ago and has since grown exponentially. They plan to open 300 franchise retail stores by the end of this financial year.

Although the period of the pandemic was challenging, Winnie was able to navigate through it by making tough decisions that changed their process and delivery standards.

“We have trained traders and partners to maintain better hygiene from a Covid-19 perspective while preparing products and distributing them. We have worked to ensure contactless gift delivery by following all safety norms and have been sanitizing our kitchen and warehouse facilities daily as per government advisories," shares Sujeet.

Also, to meet the immediate challenges it faced, it reduced product sales margins and increased its marketing by using all available opportunities to reach relevant customers.

Sujeet points out that during this period, people started opting for digital gifts like celebrity video messages, personalized caricatures, on-demand virtual live music performances and virtual greeting cards, and Vinny's team is working to meet these changing needs.

"In the next three to four years the online gifting industry will begin to consolidate and we are going to play a pivotal role as a leading firm in this domain." Sujeet says