fbpx
Home / Venture  / Angela Edwards: From horse and carriage to e-commerce

Angela Edwards: From horse and carriage to e-commerce

Fed up with trying to find the perfect corporate gift, Angela Edwards saw an opportunity to realise her goal of starting her own business. Enter Miny & Mo, a site that curates and sells gift experiences online. She gives us the lowdown on her new business venture.

miny & mo online gift experiences angela edwards?What makes Miny & Mo different from other experience gift providers?

There are three main differences that set us apart. The first one is that we have taken away the need to trawl through hundreds of experiences, simply choose a category, price point and location and up to 10 experiences will appear ready to be sent to your recipient. Secondly, we let the recipient choose what they want to do from a perfectly suited selection. And the third thing is, that we always gift box all our experience gifts so that it is so much more than just a voucher.

How long has it taken you to get to this point?

It’s taken over a year since we decided officially “let’s do this”, to get to where we are now, launched and making sales.

What’s your background?

Predominantly retail, where my passion for sales quickly developed into a passion for management. This provided me with opportunities to gain experience in senior roles, and across all areas of business, for some well-known international brands.

I’ve also worked in adventure tourism both in New Zealand and overseas, including ski fields here at Whakapapa, Coronet Peak and The Remarkables and in Scotland – yes Scotland! I have a real passion for trying new experiences and appreciating what our uniquely beautiful country has to offer.

What’s the most unusual job you’ve had?

That would have to be driving tourists and brides around Queenstown on a horse and carriage. There were a few heart racing moments when cars, carriages and excited horses weren’t a good mix, but no accidents thankfully!  

If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice what would it be?

That it’s going to take longer and cost more than you think! But the outcome is going to be completely worth it.

The best thing about this job is …

Hands down that would be putting smiles on people’s faces. We know that with each box that heads out our door, we are helping to make someone’s day. There’s something very satisfying about that.

miny & mo online gift experiencesWhat’s worked best for you in regard to marketing/promotion?

In terms of traffic and conversions, we have definitely had the most success from our digital marketing. Like most new ecommerce businesses, our Adword campaigns have been essential while we work on improving our organic google ranking. Social Media is playing its part and certainly helps with brand awareness and creating a voice. 

Any categories Miny & Mo isn’t yet in but would like to be?

Absolutely, we have lots of categories in the mixing bowl that we will start to roll out once we have the main centres covered. Keep an eye out for Wine & Dine, it’ll be delicious! Or maybe Lavish & Luxury for an extra special treat…

What are your long-term plans for Miny & Mo?

We are currently working on moving beyond the Auckland region and towards becoming a national offering. Wellington is clearly in our sights and then the adventure capitals being Queenstown in the South Island and Rotorua and the Central Plateau in the North.

One of the talented Idealog Team Content Producers made this post happen.

Review overview