Red Balloon splits business in two as it launches ‘Wrapped’ division
Online retailer of gifts and experiences, Red Balloon, has split its offer into two divisions, with the creation of Wrapped, which will sell only physical gifts.
The decision to split the business in two will see Red Balloon continue to sell experiences such as race car rides, parachuting and destinations while Wrapped will offer shoppers the ability to buy physical gifts, such as handbags and wallets.
Red Balloon CEO, Nick Baker, said the decision to launch the new division came after the level of interest in buying physical gifts rose on the site in the lead up to Christmas last year.
“It became obvious at Christmas last year that the physical gift range on RedBalloon was an extremely popular option for many people preferring traditional gifts at Christmas, as well as people in rural and regional areas who may not have a variety of experience options close to them,” Baker said.
“So we decided to clearly separate our offerings, by focusing on experiences through RedBalloon and great gifts through Wrapped.”
The Wrapped site soft-launched last week and Baker said it had already had more than 10,000 visits and acquired 5,000 subscribers.
The soft launch was supported by a mailout to Red Balloon subscribers. The new brand will also feature in magazine inserts in Elle and OK magazines.
Wrapped is also launching #wrapbattle where a number of suppliers are being challenged to wrap their gifts, with visitors to the wrapped website voting on who has the most stylishly wrapped gift.
Red Balloon and Wrapped have also built the sites on the Shopify platform which will allow credit to be easily moved from one business to the other.
The decision to launch Wrapped comes as the Red Balloon side of the business continues to push into the travel and tourism sectors.
Seems silly. Gift equity already existed with the redballoon brand and now they have to invest in building an entirely new brand, build traffic and subscribers. Contrary to redballoon’s main site there is no point of difference between this new “Wrapped” site and any other online gift shop. This isn’t news, just a confused business.
User ID not verified.
looks like that business is wrapped up now as well … didn’t last too long.
User ID not verified.