A break in the Pyrenees, a wine tasting session, a yoga class... there are a lot of varied activities to give as a gift with the experience boxes from the likes of the extremely popular La vida es bella or Wonderbox. However, Baby'n'Joy has decided that the little kings of the household should also have the right to get an experience gift and for the past three years this Catalancompany has been selling itineraries on horseback for children or stays in family friendly hotels, among others. "Giving the gift of family time is our slogan, which is increasingly becoming an issue of enjoying experiences rather than material things. That is what we are going for," says RaquelAbuli, founder and owner of this startup that has a turnover of a million euros.
It all began with a final project in the MBA that Abuli and two classmates did a few years ago. Why? "There were no activities aimed at families; all the experiences were for adults and there was nothing to cover the family holiday segment. There was nothing either in Europe or in Latin countries, where the market for experience boxes works," recalls the entrepreneur.
More sales offline than online
After gestating the project for two years, in 2013 they put the first collection of boxes aimed at children on the market, "even though we also had boxes for families, they were perhaps secondary." Initially, they targeted shops for kids products but the market quickly showed them that their potential clientele was more to be found in the traditional retail sector.
Now, Baby'n'Joy boxes are to be found in large retailers and department stores like El Corte Inglés, Carrefour, Alcampo and MediaMarkt and they are currently talking to Fnac, which has taken some doing to bring on board. In all of these shops in the run up to the festive season are to be found salespeople promoting the product, as the company takes on some 50 people to conquer direct sales in points of sale. "It is the easiest way because with our product being a gift and not for oneself, it is very hard to foster client loyalty," Abuli argues. Experience boxes can also be purchasedonline, although everything suggests that sales through this channel will be 10% less than the 90% of sales in offline channels.
Yet, the staff is smaller during the rest of the year: seven people make up the team, which works to set up commercial agreements in the whole of Spain to offer original and different activities in their experience boxes. Their market is about volume, and tough to grow in, points out the founder. "Growing is more difficult; what we want is for the person who buys the product to pay more or less what they would pay in the place where the activity they want to give as a gift takes place. We do not offer discounts, however for example, we help hotels to fill rooms in certain seasons and we offer activities that perhaps you would not think about straight away but that later on you see are really 'cool'."
The lure of the 'Masterchef junior' box
They have different product ranges available: Family'n'Joy, Baby'n'Joy and they have now included Kids'n'Joy, activities aimed only at children, as well as a special edition box under the Masterchef Junior licence, the well-known programme on Televisión Española, which runs cookery competitions for children all over Spain. In practice, for example, one can buy a two-day stay for a family with dinner for three/four people for 129.90 euros, a photography session for small children for 149.90 euros or a day activitat for a family for 34.90 euros. "The breaks are always a safe bet and work really well because everyone wants to get away and the matter of having general family fun also works really well," says the entrepreneur.
All the activities can be done all over Spanish territory, except for the Canary Islands, and next, in 2017, they will move into France, "the biggest market for experience boxes." According to Raquel Abuli, "the experience box sector in Spain has a big turnover and we believe we have a lot more potential, a lot more growth and some way to go, but it is true that it is hard to get people to think about us when it comes to choosing a gift," she recognises.