Thisisnessie

What Thisisnessie does

Thisisnessie (legally ThisIsNessie Limited, Company No. 07882601) is a privately held, UK-based direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailer of personalised gifts, stationery, prints, homewares, clothing, and food and drink, founded in 2002 by Nessie and operated from a single studio in East Sussex. The company's product catalogue is built on hand-painted watercolour illustrations authored by the founder, with signature IP including the Original Welly Boot Print and a Birth Flower Collection that spans dozens of substrate types (mugs, prints, stationery, cushions, chopping boards, tea towels, bags, photo frames, and more). Production is made-to-order, with buyers customising products via name, message, or uploaded artwork, and fulfilment is largely via Royal Mail from the UK studio to domestic and international customers.

The business operates two go-to-market motions: a primary DTC channel through thisisnessie.com, structured around occasion-based navigation (birthdays, weddings, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, Valentine's, Easter, by recipient, by age milestone) that captures long-tail gifting search demand, plus a trade/wholesale channel for boutique and reseller customers with application-based activation. Pricing is built on small-ticket one-off purchases with paid express and next-day delivery upgrades, gift wrapping, and gift vouchers; recurring revenue is nascent via live Instagram art classes and the Print Your Artwork upload-to-product service, and the company recently extended into a letterbox cocktail and mocktail range through a partnership with local pub The Wiremill. Marketing relies on Instagram, Facebook, a Keap-managed email list, and a blog. The company is bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding, reports 11–50 employees, holds a UK registered trademark on the Thisisnessie name and logo, and has no app, no public APIs, and no disclosed AI/ML capabilities.

Name

Thisisnessie

Legal name

ThisIsNessie Limited

Website

https://thisisnessie.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Thisisnessie is a UK-based, family-run e-commerce retailer founded in 2002 that sells personalised gifts, stationery, prints, homewares, clothing and food and drink, built around hand-illustrated watercolour designs by founder Nessie and fulfilled made-to-order to consumers and trade customers worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personalised Gifts & Stationery Retail

NAICS

Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (45942), Office Supplies, Stationery, and Gift Retailers (4594)

SIC

Greeting Cards (2771)

akta.pro primary industry

Personalized, Custom & Monogrammed Gifts Retail (CRALAJAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Greeting Cards, Wrap & Party Supplies Retail (CRALAJAE), Personalized & Custom Gift Creation (Engraving/Monogramming/Photo Gifts) (HSACANAC)

Keywords

• Personalised gifts
• Custom stationery
• Homeware gifts
• Wedding stationery
• Art prints

Headquarters

HQ city

East Grinstead

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Direct E-commerce Sales: Primary revenue stream from selling personalised gifts directly to consumers through the thisisnessie.com website. Products include homewares, stationery, clothing, food & drink items. All products are made to order and shipped directly to customers.
2. Trade/Wholesale B2B Sales: Wholesale channel for trade customers who purchase products for resale. Trade customers can register for wholesale pricing through the trade website.
3. Gift Services: Additional revenue from gift wrapping services and premium delivery options including next-day guaranteed delivery.
4. Art Classes and Workshops: Live art classes conducted on Instagram, with art class subscriptions and the ability to print customers' artwork onto products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Thisisnessie designs, personalises, and sells made-to-order gift products — including stationery, prints, homeware, clothing, food & drink (e.g., letterbox cocktails), and seasonal collections — through its own e-commerce website, all featuring founder Nessie's hand-painted watercolour illustrations such as the signature Original Welly Boot Print and the Birth Flower Collection. Customers personalise items online (names, messages, or uploaded artwork via the 'Your Artwork' service), with products created and dispatched from the company's UK studio, supported by gift wrapping, next-day delivery, and a wholesale trade channel.

Product overview

Thisisnessie is a UK-based e-commerce personalised gift retailer offering a diverse portfolio of customisable products across stationery, prints, homewares, food & drink, clothing, and gift services. The company's signature offering is the Original Welly Boot Collection—a hand-illustrated design that spans multiple product lines. Their core proposition is personalisation: all products feature Nessie's hand-painted watercolour illustrations and are customised by customers (with names, messages, or designs) making each item unique. The product range includes comprehensive wedding stationery (save the dates, invitations, table plans, place names, RSVP cards, wedding favours), personalisable prints and art, home & garden items (mugs, candles, cushions, vases, bags, egg cups, storage), food & drink (fresh letterbox cocktails and chocolates), clothing (baby grows and pyjamas), and seasonal collections for Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day. They also offer services including Print Your Artwork (upload designs to products), live Instagram art classes, a trade customer program, gift vouchers, and gift wrapping. All products are created in their East Sussex studio and shipped worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Original Welly Boot Collection Signature hand-illustrated welly boot designs that have become the company's iconic brand identity, available across prints, stationery, homewares, and gifts.
• Stationery Range Comprehensive stationery range including greetings cards, invitations, correspondence cards, notebooks, planners, pens, pencil cases, thank you notes, writing paper, children's stationery, calendars, labels, and keepsake cards.
• Personalised Wedding Stationery Full suite of wedding stationery including save the dates, invitations, RSVP cards, table plans, place names, table names, menus, wedding favours, and thank you notes, available in multiple design themes (Welly Boot, Classic, Birth Flower, Botanical).
• Prints & Art Personalised prints including birth flower prints and family welly boot prints, alongside the art-class 'Your Artwork' service where customers can upload their own artwork to be printed on various products.
• Home & Garden Products Homeware gifts including aprons, bags, candles, chopping boards, doormats, egg cups, glasses, mugs, flower presses, cushions, plant markers, photo frames, planters, storage tins and boxes, serving platters, tea towels, vases, water bottles, whiskey decanters, and wallpaper.
• Food & Drink (Letterbox Cocktails and Chocolates) Fresh cocktail kits in 11 varieties (Porn Star Martini, Gin Bramble, Espresso Martini, and mocktails) co-created with local pub The Wiremill, plus chocolate gift bags, sweet treat tins, and cocktail & chocolate gift sets, packaged to fit through a letterbox.
• Clothing (Baby Grows and Pyjamas) Baby grows (0-18 months, 100% organic cotton) and pyjamas in personalised designs, including occasion ranges for Father's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, and birthdays.
• Gift Vouchers & Gift Wrapping Gift vouchers available in flexible amounts, gift wrapping services using Thisisnessie tissue paper and ribbon, and gift boxes for premium presentation.
• Print Your Artwork Service Service allowing customers to upload their own artwork to be printed on various products including water bottles, mugs, place mats, napkins, pencil cases, labels, tea towels, chopping boards, coasters, wall hangings, and decorations.
• Art Classes Live art classes conducted on Instagram, led by Nessie and Daisy, building a community around painting, with downloadable class materials and a subscription option to print customers' artwork onto products.
• Trade Customer Program (Wholesale) Wholesale program for trade customers (retailers, boutiques and resellers) offering access to the full product range at wholesale pricing through a dedicated trade website, with application/activation required.
• Birth Flower Collection Personalised products featuring hand-illustrated birth month flowers, available across a range of gift and homeware items.
• Christmas Collection Seasonal Christmas products including decorations, advent calendars, cards, Eve boxes, stockings, pyjamas, and themed gifts for various recipients.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The WiremillcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with local pub The Wiremill to create letterbox cocktails combining Nessie's illustrations with their cocktails. Products include 11 different cocktails such as Porn Star Martini, Gin Bramble, and Espresso Martini, as well as mocktails. The sustainable bags are made from recycled drinks bottles.
• FeefominorOthersSelected review platform used by the company to collect and display customer reviews.
• Royal MailcoreOthersPrimary delivery partner for UK and international shipping. All orders are dispatched via Royal Mail services including Tracked 48, Tracked 24, and Special Delivery.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Boomf: UK personalised gift brand famous for personalised marshmallows, chocolates, and prints. Directly comparable as a personalised gift retailer using illustration and custom designs on physical products sold to UK consumers for occasions and corporate gifting.
• Funky Pigeon: UK-based personalised greeting cards and gifts retailer owned by WHSmith. Directly overlaps with Thisisnessie's stationery and personalised gift offering, selling personalised cards, prints, mugs, and homeware gifts through a similar e-commerce model.
• Not On The High Street: UK online marketplace specialising in personalised and bespoke gifts from small independent designers. Both companies occupy the same personalised-gift retail category targeting UK consumers seeking unique presents for occasions, with comparable product breadth (homewares, stationery, prints) and similar occasion-based merchandising.
• Getting Personal: UK online retailer of personalised gifts including mugs, stationery, prints, and homeware. Directly competes in the same personalised-gift category with comparable product breadth, customisation technology, and occasion-led merchandising aimed at UK gift buyers.
• Thortful: UK personalised greeting card marketplace featuring independent designers. Directly competitive in personalised greeting cards and stationery, with similar occasion-led merchandising targeting UK gift buyers.

Broad incumbents

• Etsy: Global marketplace for handmade and personalised goods including personalised gifts, stationery, and prints. Etsy hosts thousands of small sellers that directly overlap with Thisisnessie's personalised-gift product offering, representing the dominant marketplace competitive surface.
• Moonpig: Largest UK-based personalised greeting card and gift retailer, publicly listed, with thousands of SKUs across cards, flowers, and gifts. Moonpig is a broad incumbent covering overlapping personalised card/stationery categories plus much larger bouquet and gift ranges, providing the scaled competitive benchmark for Thisisnessie's personalised stationery and gift business.
• Paperchase: UK stationery and gift retailer (currently in and out of administration). Overlaps with Thisisnessie's stationery, greetings cards, and gift-wrap product categories across a much larger physical retail footprint, providing a high-level competitor benchmark.

Regional players

• Emma Bridgewater: UK heritage homeware brand famous for hand-decorated pottery, mugs, and homeware gifts. Comparable in the personalisation-adjacent handmade homeware gift category, with a similar UK-made, design-led value proposition though operating at a much larger scale.

Emerging players

• Bird & Blend Tea Co. Independent UK lifestyle and gifting brand specialising in personalised teas and tea-related gifts. Comparable as an emerging UK lifestyle gifting brand combining e-commerce D2C with personalisation and wholesale/trade channels, with overlapping B2B trade activation models.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thisisnessiecom
• YouTubeyoutube.com/playlist?list=PL2NtTvWyLo6XTTOnXcep7p8l95qsvmu7q
• Facebookfacebook.com/thisisnessiecom
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thisisnessie-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Thisisnessie