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Published on November 26, 2007

With the year-end festive season approaching, Stacey International Corp is providing gift-givers with a "stealth" service to ensure that their recipients like what they get.

"We act the middleman, spying on recipients to discover their favourite things so as to give them a pleasant surprise," managing director Sanongnuch Charnvirakul said last week.

The company is offering a new service called "spy gift" to ensure the present pleases the recipient. Prices start at Bt1,000, and the sky is the limit.

The marketing strategy was launched in September with the aim of doubling sales. It has proved popular with customers, and the company offers more than 200 items from flowers, baby goods, food and electric appliances to gold ornaments.

If customers already have an idea for gifts and want the company to shop for them, it will do so.

Stacey's gift-delivery service is a godsend for busy people as well as businesses and government agencies needing to purchase lots of gifts during the festive season.

The company has to have a warehouse to ensure supply and good service and has a call centre to expedite orders.

Sanongnuch,39, foresaw changes in the consumer behaviour of Bangkokians five years in the future and launched her business in 1994. People would work more and have less free time, she believed, and service businesses would assume a greater role in catering to urban demand. The company's registered capital is now Bt9 million.

The company got off to a slow start, as consumers were not yet familiar with mail ordering. The company had to promote its service to many targeted customer groups such as organisations, businesses and state agencies.

"Customers had no confidence in our goods and services and doubted that the things they got would be as good as what we put in the catalogue," Sanongbuch said.

The awareness campaign paid off, and sales are now growing 10-15 per cent a year, recently reaching the Bt40-million mark.

Sanongnuch worked in the marketing department of Coca-Cola (Thailand) Ltd for two years before leaving to set up her own firm. She said her experience at the international company allowed her to manage not only marketing plans but also strategy and inventory.

The company deals with 3,000 customers a month.

She plans to expand into franchising in three years and open outlets in every province in five years, generating total sales of more than Bt100 million.

This season Stacey has created a special gift basket with contents arranged according to customer preference, and the packaging and basketry are so contrived as to strike a blow against global warming.

Achara Pongvutitham

The Nation