WISHTRY: AN ONLINE GIFT REGISTRY SERVICE

From time immemorial, the act of gifting has more or less remained exactly the same, the only changes being in the reasons that benefactors sought, from showing appreciation towards kings or queens in the form of tributes during the medieval ages or sacrificing human beings as gifts to the gods, to birthdays or anniversaries in the modern age.

It would be a mistake to dismiss the ‘gifting’ market as being too simple or too niche or simply not worth tackling, from the perspective of an addressable market. Since the word, gift is subjective, the market opportunity can be sliced and diced towards as many verticals as possible depending on the management team’s wishes and perspectives.

While the reasons are many, the fundamentals of gifting goes like this: humans being social animals, seek to express their appreciation or admiration or well-wishes in the form of physical objects. The objects to be gifted is totally the preserve of the benefactor: how well does he or she know the beneficiary, personally or professionally? The answer to this isn’t straight-forward and indeed, in many cases, when a suitable choice of gift cannot be thought of, the benefactor decides to stick to the basics: food, clothes or accessories.

Wishtry, an online gift registry service has chosen to interpret the gifting market differently, namely by making the processes involved between benefactors and beneficiaries more efficient. Let them tell us how.

 

Give a brief info about your startup?

From the moment you announce your wedding, anniversary, baby shower or any other occasion, your friends and family would want to send you presents. No doubt gifts make any celebration ten times better, but what if you receive a bunch of them you really don’t want. Does that mean you don’t wish too hard or you don’t aim the penny well while making the wish? The truth is that the old school wishing well has changed immensely and is no longer a secret. Online gift registries have made the wishing well concept virtual.

WISHTRY is an online gift registry service, which allows you to curate your wishlist from different website of your choice and share it with your family & friends.

 

What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?

One of our founders, on her wedding received multiple and useless gifts, which she had no choice but to give it to her house help. This made her realise the need of Wishtry – a gift registry service in India, which would make the gift giver and gift receiver’s life more convenient. Through Wishtry platform you can politely ask for what you want from your friends and family on your special occasions.

This is perfect for guests; they can easily purchase a gift from your registry and have it delivered to your doorstep! Wishtry an online gift registry is more accessible for the host and their guests.

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

Wishtry Team

YOGITA PAREKH

(CO-FOUNDER & CEO)

As the company Co-founder, She is the head of client servicing and business development, She has an amazing track record of business development as well as leadership skills. She worked as the Head of FR team in Concern India Foundation for a year and as an Account head in Mrecord LLC a US based company for 6 years. Top Notch an Event Management Company was also founded by her and now currently solely working for Wishtry India Digital Pvt. Ltd., she witnessed this gap in the gifting space and introduced a universal gift registry first time in India.

 

ADITI MEHTA

(CO-FOUNDER & PRESIDENT)

The Brainchild behind Wishtry, She is responsible for the company’s partnership with affiliates and retailers, business development and B-to-B marketing. She has worked as HR Head in Shah Coal Pvt. Ltd for 8 years and now currently solely working for Wishtry India Digital Pvt. Ltd. Aditi is responsible to create winning strategies in the fast paced, ever-changing online world. She has an MBA in marketing from Melbourne, Australia.

 

SHAILIE PAREKH

(CO-FOUNDER & VICE PRESIDENT)

For over 5 years experience initiating, maintaining and expanding successful client relations. She holds a Master’s degree in Marketing Management from Aston University, Birmingham. She has had prior experience in Strategic Media Planning as Senior Digital Media planner for Hindustan Unilever. Prior to which she had worked with Percept Entertainment and FoxyMoron as an Online Marketing Executive and now currently solely working for Wishtry India Digital Pvt. Ltd.

 

Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?

We are based out of Mumbai, the growing hub in the startup industry. Moreover, we are online website that has presence PAN India so Mumbai works best because of better connectivity and growing funding options.

 

As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?

Wishtry, a Gift registry service is very new to India trying to break cultural bias of asking for gifts. This cultural and sentimental shift is difficult to accept for the Indian market.

Who are your competitions and how are you better than them?

Weddingwishlist.com

MyThofa.com

Lifafa.com

Vowandwishes.com

Wishtry is a universal gift registry which holds no inventory, allowing users to add products from any website in the world.

Tastefully register for cash by creating “Cash Fund”. We are also available on Appstore and Playstore.

How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?

We are 3 partners who work for Wishtry full- time. We have divided our work profile creating a synergy and efficient working atmosphere. We are a small team yet, so reaching out to a wider market posts some difficulty but we are planning on expansion in the near future.

Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you are looking to raise.

We are a self-funded start-up that have a strong vision and Working style. We are open to funding for expansion and marketing to reach out to a wider audience.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

Wishtry, being a pioneer in the gift registry industry is usually mistaken as an ecommerce website that sells gifts or as a service that purchases the listed products as Gifts. Whereas Wishtry is  an online gift registry service where you can curate your Wishlist for any upcoming occasion which you friends and family can buy.

 

What gets you excited about this company?

Wishtry, is a pathbreaking need of the hour concept. People on all occasions buy you gifts that you don’t want or don’t need, wasting a lot of time and money. At Wishtry we are excited to break this trend and start a new trend in the gifting market.

Tell us how a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.

As a part of a very dynamic and constantly changing industry, we have to stay updated with Gifting patterns. For a new concept like Wishtry we are working to get the concept of a gift registry out to the Indian market. As founders all 3 handle different departments, updating each other every morning on the day’s agenda. Every day we check the smooth functionality of the app and the website and solve any grievances and offer customer support to all our users. Our Business development head is out of the office for new affiliate acquisition and meeting with existing vendor partners. We have about 40 plus affiliate partners and growing at a rapid pace. We are developing marketing strategies both digital and on ground which are up to date with current trends. We manage our social media in house, coordinating all digital partner and influencer associations. Our day ends with updating reports so that the team is informed about the daily progress.

Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?

We as a team, have been friends for over 6 years who have had similar interests and passions. We have a strong bond and share the same vision for the company forward. We are involved full time in making Wishtry – a successful venture. We are constantly evolving and brainstorming on the way ahead and usually back each other in tough decisions.

 

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