A decision to distance herself from the ‘gift basket’ tag drove Showcase International founder Jeannine Fuller to position her brand far away from any associations with wicker baskets full of miniature jam jars and dated shortbreads.
A decision to distance herself from the ‘gift basket’ tag drove Showcase International founder Jeannine Fuller to position her brand far away from any associations with wicker baskets full of miniature jam jars and dated shortbreads.
Instead, inside Showcase International’s locally hand-crafted jarrah corporate gift boxes, you are more likely to find exclusively designed Linneys pearl jewellery, Waterford Crystal glasses, Leeuwin Estate Art Series wine, or a box of Devlin Cigars.
It is this commitment to the promotion of local products that has brought Ms Fuller’s corporate gift concept to the attention of top WA companies, with major engineering, mining and global software companies included among the business’s clients.
With a history of entrepreneurial ventures in the tourism and hospitality industries, Ms Fuller started Showcase International after moving from Queensland, where she had successfully established and managed restaurants and a tour company.
Selling her rural property to fund the move interstate and her new business venture, Ms Fuller set about establishing the product, sourcing high-end suppliers with only a concept and a business plan.
Ms Fuller said her biggest challenge was attracting suppliers and sourcing the premium luxury products while the product was only in the concept stage.
“The biggest challenge was co-ordinating everything and getting the product to the standard that it needed to be before I could present it,” Ms Fuller said.
“It’s not a gift basket; it’s a very high-end product so nothing can let it down, whether it be the hardware we use in the boxes, the products we chose, the packaging, everything has to be very, very impressive.”
Ms Fuller hired management consultants OTS Management to help her formulate a vision statement, a solid business plan, and marketing and risk management plans.
“Putting a marketing plan together with action and timelines was invaluable, because you really had a blueprint or a map of where you were going,” she said.
“The best decision I made was to do a smart marketing plan so that everything was identified in order of priority, and what time frame I was working to.”
Linneys was one the first suppliers to come on board, after it was convinced of the concept’s commercial viability.
“They [the suppliers] had to see marketing plans and business plans etc. because they’re trusting their brand name with me; they had to make sure they had confidence and believed in what I was trying to do,” Ms Fuller said.
While acknowledging she had taken a big financial risk – pulling out of an investment property and instead investing in the business – Ms Fuller was confident her product would be successful due to its niche appeal.
“Because it is such a luxury product and it is very high end, I decided I was going to do it this way and nobody else was filling that niche,” she said.
Ms Fuller credits her relationship-building strategy early on in the development of the business as a vital factor in achieving support for the product, and in getting sub-contractors on board for web design, marketing and graphic design.
“Starting businesses is all about collaborating and building relationships, and if you join forces, everybody benefits,” she said.
Ms Fuller is currently in negotiations with a major hotel and other tourism business to form marketing alliances, as well as joining networking groups and putting on showcase evenings for clients.
She has also introduced a higher volume, lower cost option for smaller gifts, starting at around $300, with the flagship boxes starting from $3,000 upwards.
“I started off at the top, which was where I wanted to go, and now we’re looking at expanding the range and offer some smaller options. Because it is a niche market it can be a lot of money for a one off expense proposition,” Ms Fuller said.
