Allowing staff to innovate took the business in new directions

Name: Prezzybox
Location: Warwickshire
Employees: 25
Founded in: 2000
Tip: “You have to keep looking to push things forward.”

The problem

After two decades of business, sales were strong at gift company Prezzybox. However, founder Zak Edwards wasn’t happy about its brand direction and staff were lacking motivation.

“We were doing quite well, but we were selling things we didn’t particularly like. The products were fun but a bit crude and crass. We found ourselves moving further in that direction and it wasn’t motivating staff because everybody else was doing the same,” Zak said.

The solution

Zak started by looking at their mission, values and the assets within the company. He realised the Prezzybox team had valuable skills that weren’t being utilised. Their tech capabilities were particularly strong and there was an opportunity to innovate and monetise the things they did well internally.

“One of our values is being innovative, so allowing people to flourish is important. We don’t like to put staff in pigeon holes. We want to encourage them to think of solutions to problems that we have – and, by default, problems facing the industry,” Zak explained. 

The tech-focused approach led Prezzybox to embrace unexpected opportunities. The company has created an online rewards system, as well as a tool to help with GDPR compliance.

“One of our guys recently developed an online tool around GDPR that we can use internally, but we’re now looking at marketing that as a separate business because it’s so awesome.”

The results

Zak has now set up an umbrella company to sit above all of the different divisions. At the moment, Prezzybox still makes up 95 per cent of the business, but Zak expects new products to take a much bigger share in the future.

Profits from Prezzybox online are up 25-30 per cent for the year, putting the company in a healthy position to continue to innovate and invest in new opportunities.

“We’re talking about going on quite a significant recruitment drive next year, increasing our staff by anything up to 50 per cent. There’s a lot of development opportunities for the staff to be involved in some really exciting things – it’s certainly motivating. Everyone is buzzing about our new direction and really on board with it.”