Smartbox signs up 450 Irish firms for launch

Gifting giant targets sales of up to €30m here as people prioritise experiences, writes Michael Cogley

MORE than 450 Irish businesses have signed up to Smartbox, an online experience-gifting giant, ahead of its Irish launch this month.

The Irish-headquartered company, which originated in France, employs more than 600 people at its offices on Talbot Street in Dublin city.

Smartbox offers customers experiences that can be given as a gift to another person.

A customer can buy a restaurant ‘box’ worth €80 that will allow the receiver access to any of the restaurants signed up to the service.

It differs from the discounted models used by the likes of Groupon, with all products such as meals, getaways, and extreme activities such as sky diving costing full price.

Smartbox has more than 18,000 points of sale across Europe, but it will only have 11 in Ireland when it launches. The company has agreed a deal with Debenhams to sell across its Irish branches.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, chief executive John Perkins said the boxes were gift that “couldn’t fail”.

“There’s a societal change that is happening where it used to be ‘I am what I own’, now it’s ‘I am what I do’,” he said.

“More and more people are becoming less materialistic.

“It’s not the person that has the biggest pile of toys that wins, it’s the person that’s done the most and seen the most that wins.”

He said that cash was the number one gift that people ask for but that it was a “terrible thing to offer”.

Perkins, who previously spent eight years as a senior director at Apple in Europe, said the company aimed to have more than 800 businesses across Ireland on board before the end of 2019.

Clients do not pay anything up front to use the service but must pay a double-digit commission fee once a box is redeemed.

Perkins declined the disclose the size of the commission but said in most cases the fee was covered by customers that spent beyond the value of their voucher.

“We’re the middle men between all these entrepreneurs and the consumers,” Perkins said.

“We’re a marketing platform for all these establishments. Most of these establishments can’t pay for advertising, they can’t pay for TV, they can’t pay for radio.”

He also said that revenue was expected to grow to between €20m and €30m in Ireland alone over the next five years.

The Smartbox chief, whose mother was born and raised in Dublin, has predicted that sales in Ireland will reach 300,000 units by 2023.

Europe-wide, Smartbox turned over more than €500m in revenue last year. Around 6.5m boxes are sold each year.

Perkins previously spent time heading up Play. com, a UK-based competitor to Amazon.

He said that he has used his experience from both Apple and competing with the “800-pound gorilla” Amazon to grow Smartbox since he joined five years ago.