Hello Cheese

What Hello Cheese does

Hello Gifts UK is a privately held, bootstrapped, founder-led e-commerce gifting brand operating from the United Kingdom. Founded by Lorna Jenkins, who started the business from her dining room table, the company sells curated gift boxes and themed gift collections spanning occasions including birthdays, pamper/self-care, teacher appreciation, exam good luck, thank-you, gardener, chocolate, and men's and women's gifts, with prices ranging from approximately £8 to £56+. The core product is the Build Your Own Box configurator — a customizable builder allowing customers to select 3 to 10 items with tiered volume discounts (£22/£30/£35/£42) — supplemented by an extensive catalog of pre-curated themed boxes and accessories including wish bracelets and pocket hug tokens. The technology stack is built on Shopify with a third-party box-builder app, and the storefront also offers handwritten personalized messages, letterbox-friendly packaging, same-day dispatch for orders before 3pm, and free UK delivery.

The business operates a direct-to-consumer e-commerce model with multiple revenue streams: direct sales via the Shopify storefront (one-time purchase), and marketplace sales via Amazon Prime, Not On The High Street, and Etsy (transaction-fee model). The primary customer segment is women and girls (teens, tweens, and adult women) purchasing gifts for birthdays, Mother's Day, thank-you, and self-care occasions. Marketing is executed through organic social on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, plus email newsletter with a 10% first-order discount code. The company has been featured on ITV's This Morning and is recognized as an award-winning UK gifting brand. Internationally, the storefront supports shipping to 20+ countries across the UK, EU, North America, APAC, and the Middle East.

The business is currently operating at reduced capacity: in July 2024 the founder publicly disclosed a lymphoma diagnosis and pending surgery, leading to a temporary closure of the direct website and the Not On The High Street shop while Amazon Prime fulfillment continues. The company has no external funding, no parent company, no disclosed employees beyond the founder, no parent institution, and no patents or trademarks on file. Strategic recent moves include the June 2024 Amazon Prime expansion, multi-marketplace listing, and product line diversification into men's, teen, and baby/new mum segments.

Name

Hello Cheese

Legal name

Hello Gifts UK

Website

https://hellogifts.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hello Gifts UK is a founder-led, bootstrapped UK e-commerce gifting brand selling curated and customizable gift boxes (Build Your Own Box and themed collections) direct-to-consumer via Shopify and marketplaces, primarily targeting women and girls for occasions like birthdays, pamper, and thank-you gifts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Curated Gift Boxes

NAICS

Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (45942), Confectionery and Nut Retailers (445292), Jewelry, Luggage, and Leather Goods Retailers (4583)

SIC

Retail-Apparel & Accessory Stores (5600), Costume Jewelry & Novelties (3960)

akta.pro primary industry

Gift Basket & Curated Hamper Assembly (HSACANAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Men’s Grooming Gift Sets & Bundles (CRABAGAL), Fragrance Gift Sets & Discovery Kits (CRABADAI)

Keywords

• Curated gift boxes
• Letterbox friendly gifts
• Pamper gift sets
• Build your own box
• Occasion gifting

Headquarters

HQ city

Hove

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Direct E-commerce Sales: Direct-to-consumer sales through the company's own Shopify-powered website, selling curated gift boxes and individual products at retail prices
2. Marketplace Sales: Sales through third-party marketplaces including Amazon Prime, Not On The High Street, and Etsy

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Hello Gifts UK curates and sells themed gift boxes (pamper, chocolate, sock, teacher, gardener, men's, teen, thank you, exam/good luck) as ready-to-send and letterbox-friendly sets. Its flagship Build Your Own Box configurator lets customers select 3-10 items (skincare, socks, treats, accessories) with volume-based pricing, complemented by keepsake accessories such as wish bracelets and pocket hug tokens.

Product overview

Hello Gifts UK is an award-winning UK gifting brand (featured on ITV's This Morning) offering curated gift boxes and themed gift collections. The core product is the Build Your Own Box customizable builder, complemented by ready-to-send themed collections including The Pamper Her Collection (self-care/pamper boxes), Chocolate Gift Boxes (Cadbury letterbox chocolates), Sock Gift Boxes (multi-pair bundles), and various occasion-specific lines for Birthdays, Teachers, Exams/Good Luck, Thank You, Mum/New Mum, Gardeners, and Men's gifts. The company also offers sentiment-focused accessories including Wish Bracelets (silver charm bracelets) and Pocket Hug Tokens (sustainable bamboo heart tokens). Products range from letterbox-friendly compact gifts to larger curated boxes, with personalization options including handwritten messages. Distribution includes their direct Shopify store, Amazon Prime, Not on the High Street, and Etsy marketplaces.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Build Your Own Box

Quantifiable outcome

• Orders placed before 3pm dispatched same day
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Not On The High StreetcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMarketplace partnership through which Hello Gifts products are sold on the Not On The High Street curated gift marketplace, reaching customers seeking unique British-made gift options.
• AmazoncoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAmazon Prime partnership for fast delivery options. Selected bestselling gift boxes available with Prime delivery, expanding reach to Amazon's massive customer base.
• EtsyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMarketplace presence on Etsy, the handmade and vintage goods platform, for additional sales channel and discovery.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Etsy: Global handmade and curated goods marketplace, and one of Hello Gifts' third-party sales channels. Comparable as a destination for personalised, curated, small-batch gifting — both a peer (consumer-facing curated marketplace) and a channel for Hello Gifts.
• Funky Pigeon: UK personalised card, gift and home retailer owned by WHSmith. Comparable to Hello Gifts in offering personalised and themed gifting (cards, mugs, keepsakes) for UK consumers, though at significantly larger scale and with a wider product range.
• Buyagift: Established UK gifting marketplace offering experiences, gift boxes and curated gifts. Overlaps with Hello Gifts on the curated-gift-box side of its catalogue and on the UK consumer-occasion market, though Buyagift is far broader and includes experiences.
• Red Letter Days: Established UK gifting brand offering gift boxes, experiences, and themed hampers through its own site and partner retailers. Overlaps with Hello Gifts in curated, occasion-driven gift boxes aimed at UK consumers seeking ready-to-give presents.
• Not On The High Street: UK curated marketplace for independent brands and personalised gifts — and simultaneously one of Hello Gifts' distribution channels. Comparable as a curated-gifting marketplace destination where consumers discover small brands like Hello Gifts.
• Moonpig: Leading UK online greeting card and personalised gift retailer, also selling flowers,酒 gifts and curated hampers. Broad incumbent that overlaps with Hello Gifts on personalised/occasion gifting and on the Build-Your-Own-style customisation mechanic.

Direct peers

• Letterbox Love: UK letterbox-friendly gift and hamper brand focused on pamper, self-care and chocolate gifting with direct-to-consumer e-commerce. Direct peer on the letterbox format that Hello Gifts also emphasises, with similar target demographic and price points.
• The Hamper Emporium: UK-based curated gift hamper retailer offering themed hampers for occasions including birthdays, thank you, Mother's Day and corporate gifting. Closely comparable to Hello Gifts on product format (curated, themed, occasion-driven gift boxes) and target buyer (women/family gifting).
• Prezzybox: UK online retailer specialising in curated, novelty and personalised gift boxes for birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions. Direct overlap with Hello Gifts in curated gift-box assortment, occasion-led merchandising, and UK D2C e-commerce positioning.

Emerging players

• Harper & Blake: UK-based curated gift and letterbox-hamper brand targeting women with pamper, chocolate and self-care boxes. Comparable emerging small brand competing in the same niche — Build-Your-Own-style curation, occasion-led gifting, Instagram-driven acquisition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HelloCheeseBox
• Facebookfacebook.com/HelloCheeseBox
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hello-cheese
• Instagraminstagram.com/hellogifts.uk
• TikToktiktok.com/@hellogiftsuk
• Pinterestpinterest.com/shopify

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 Hello Cheese