Three is the magic number for bespoke gift firm

Bespoke gift company Colleague Box, which was founded during the height of the pandemic, is celebrating its third anniversary.

Since being launched during lockdown in May 2020 by husband-and-wife Adam and Natalie Bamford, the firm has literally delivered happiness to more than a quarter of a million people.

It achieved a turnover of £1 million in its first five months of trading – and has gone on to win numerous awards.

Colleague Box initially offered small, letterbox-friendly gift packages to help businesses boost employee morale and stay connected during the pandemic.

It has since created more than 500 separate gift box designs of various sizes and contents, from a birthday subscription club for businesses and Christmas packages to Employee Appreciation Day gifts, seasonal and King’s Coronation gifts.

It has also designed numerous packages to support charities such as Derby County Community Trust and YMCA Derbyshire.

Now with five full-time staff, including new executive directors Neil Everatt and Deborah Saunby, the company has delivered more than 250,000 boxes containing, in total, around two million items, most of which are sourced from companies in the East Midlands.

Natalie said: “When we started out three years ago, it was all about staying connected as colleagues. We were probably the perfect business for Covid.

“But we’ve had to continually evolve and develop our products for a post-Covid world. Now it’s also very much about employee retention, productivity and engagement.

“Covid taught employers so much about how important it is to keep hold of good employees and we’ve realised we are more than just an ecommerce site, we’re a consultancy service that helps businesses achieve their goals via gifting. Around 90% of our orders are bespoke now.

“On the one hand, it’s amazing that we are still here and thriving, but with the state of the economy, we’ve also had to make sure we keep moving forward and constantly evolving what we are offering and listening to feedback from our loyal customer base.”