Building a 7-Figure Business on Connection Not Commodities

What if scaling your eCommerce business isn't about better ads, but about understanding why customers buy from you? Louise Doyle shares how she built Needi from a struggling DTC gifting site into a £2 million corporate gifting business by refusing to treat gifts like commodities.

Episode Summary

Louise and her co-founder Steph launched Needi in 2021 with ambitious DTC plans, only to discover the brutal reality of customer acquisition costs and overwhelming competition. Within months, they pivoted to B2B corporate gifting, where they found desperate demand for their psychology-driven approach. By asking why clients want to give gifts rather than just what they need, Needi scaled from £500k to £2 million in revenue whilst supporting local independent businesses. Lou shares the unconventional journey of building a concierge service that's now projecting £5 million revenue, all whilst balancing motherhood and creating a team where over half the employees are mums.

Key Point Timestamps:

05:10 - The DTC Reality: Why Direct-to-Consumer Failed

10:15 - The Pivot: Finding Corporate Clients Who Were Desperate

16:25 - Understanding the Psychology Behind Every Gift

24:30 - Your Client Isn't Actually Your Client

32:05 - The Amazon Problem: Connection Beats Efficiency

37:14 - Scaling from £500k to £5M Projected Revenue

45:07 - The Mum Factor: Building a Family-First Business

The DTC Reality: Why Direct-to-Consumer Failed (05:10)

Lou and Steph thought they had it figured out. The research was solid: one in five gifts end up in landfill, 80% of people hate finding the right gift, and everyone's received a terrible present. Simple problem, simple solution—build a website, run Facebook ads, watch orders roll in.

"We went into it fairly naively," Lou admits. "We thought everybody is rubbish at gifting and doesn't enjoy it. So we'll set up an e-comm site where we make people really good at gifting. And it was really hard."

The cost of customer acquisition was brutal. But worse, they faced double jeopardy: they needed to attract customers whilst simultaneously onboarding local independent businesses to supply the gifts. Chicken and egg doesn't begin to describe the challenge.

The Pivot: Finding Corporate Clients Who Were Desperate (10:15)

Rather than flogging a dead horse, Lou and Steph started LinkedIn outreach to corporate clients. They walked into head offices with suitcases filled with gifts. The response was immediate and overwhelming.

"These people were literally saying, my gosh, where have you been? We need what you're doing," Lou explains. Executive assistants and marketing managers were being dumped with last-minute orders for thousands of gifts with tight budgets and no time to find quality suppliers.

The word "concierge" isn't accidental in Needi's description. It represents doing absolutely everything for clients whilst they figured out how to scale the service.

Understanding the Psychology Behind Every Gift (16:25)

Lou and Steph didn't just pivot to B2B—they transformed how they approached gifting entirely. They spent hundreds of hours studying the psychology of gifting, working with a professor of altruism, researching relationship dynamics.

"A gift is cementing what your relationship means to that person," Lou says. "You would not buy somebody a gift if you weren't looking for a particular connection."

This insight changed everything. Instead of asking what gift clients wanted or how many they needed, Needi asks why. Why are you buying this gift? What relationship are you trying to cement? What message are you trying to send?

Your Client Isn't Actually Your Client (24:30)

When a company orders 10,000 gifts for employees, the purchaser is the corporate decision-maker. But the person who determines whether that company orders again next year? That's the employee who receives the gift.

"For you to maintain a relationship with the gifter, the recipient of the gift has got to have an exceptional experience," Lou explains.

This means if you know a company wants to show employees they're valued, you don't send generic gift vouchers. You find out what makes those employees tick. You personalise. You add handwritten notes explaining why this particular gift went to this particular person. That's relationship building at scale.

The Amazon Problem: Connection Beats Efficiency (32:05)

Lou's business exists because Amazon exists—not in spite of it, but because of it. Amazon owns the commodity game. If you're competing on efficiency and price, you're bringing a knife to a tank fight.

"We're up against really generic gift vouchers," Lou says. "Well done, you've been here for 10 years. Have a £50 voucher." That's efficient, scalable, and completely soulless.

But connection? That's where Digital Davids beat the Goliaths. People buy from people they know, like, and trust. You can't automate that. You can't optimise your way into trust. You have to earn it.

Today's Guest

Today's guest: Louise Doyle

Company: Needi

Website: www.Needi.co.uk

LinkedIn: Connect with Louise on LinkedIn