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The first known use of the word zest hails all the way back to 1674. Over the past 350 years, us humans have expanded our four-letter friend from its citrus peel origins and applied it to flavors, attitudes, and even businesses ranging from soap to dental implants.
A quick Google of the word will give you a rundown of all things zest throughout history, but we wanted to set the record straight about who we are, what we do, and why “zest” is the most apt word for our company.
What Is Zest?
A couple of times each year, a member of our team will crack open their inbox and find an email from a curious prospect asking about Zest. But something’s not quite right, and through the power of context clues, we realize they’re seeking a different Zest.
They’re asking about the soap company.
Or this precious cooking app.
And even this buy-now-pay-later tool.
Mixups happen, especially when you’re dealing with a word used in so many ways over centuries, so we typically just respond with who we are, what we do, and a link to the Zest they’re seeking. So, what is our flavor of Zest?
In a nutshell, Zest is a modern online gifting tool.
But what does that mean? Let’s explain.
How Zest Came to Be
Ecommerce — in the publicly-available-safe-online-retail-transaction kind of way we all know and love — has been around since the 1990s, when a Sting CD was securely purchased on the world wide web. Over the past three decades following that fateful compact disc buy, every nook and cranny of the online shopping experience has been engineered, updated, and optimized to adapt to the changing needs and behaviors of online shoppers.
As people became used to things like fast-loading pages, flexible payment options, social shopping, and one-click checkouts, the ecosystem of ecommerce tools is continuously evolving to meet expectations.
Platforms like Shopify and Squarespace make it easier than ever for pretty much anybody to open up an online store and start selling, and these platforms typically come along with thousands of optional apps you can add on to make your store’s experience perfect.
New software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps launch every year to continue innovating this highly competitive space, which means everything from email marketing to inventory tracking to customer surveys to shipping and fulfillment has been updated for today’s consumers.
Everything, that is, except for one common online shopping journey: buying gifts.
Zest’s founders noticed this glaring gap in ecommerce technology and decided to fix it.
Zest Soothes Gifting Pain
By now, nearly every bit of friction you feel when shopping for yourself online has been erased. Typically, high-performing websites are visually appealing, easy to shop, and smooth from first scroll to checkout. Modern ecommerce automations also keep you, dear consumer, in the know as your package makes its way to your doorstep.
But when you want to buy products for others? Woof.
Historically, people have few options for online gifting. They can:
- Add the products they want to gift to their cart and ship the gift to their recipient’s house. However, if you don’t know their address, you risk ruining the surprise by asking them for it before you pay. You’re also limited in how much you can customize the gift with wrapping paper or greeting cards, and the gift just might include the receipt in the box (which is definitely a gifting faux pas).
- Ship gifts to themselves and handle gifting later. This takes care of any issues getting the gift wrapped and adding a thoughtful gift note, but it does task the gifter with the extra burden of shipping the gift to the recipient on their own. Not only does this mean they have to invest some more time to this gift, but it also means they risk paying for shipping that item twice, once from the brand and once to get it to the recipient.
And if you’re a customer wanting to gift to tons of people, in the case of the exploding corporate gifting market, then expect to spend a lot of time on this gift. Between address collection, coordinating with sales reps at the brand you want to gift, working within a tight budget and timeline, and ensuring everyone gets a great gift delivery, thoughtful corporate gifting is a stressful bottleneck to endure.
Zest (us) solves these issues. Our tool is the 21st century solution to changing consumer behaviors, and it includes sought-after features like:
- Easy-to-shop public gifting storefronts that are white-labeled so they look and feel just like the rest of a brand’s website. (Yay, cohesive customer experiences!)
- The ability to customize gifts with your company logo, gift wrap, and more.
- Seamless multi-ship checkout so shoppers can send gifts to 1,000 people and only have to check out one time.
- Private business-to-business storefronts so brands can give corporate gifters instant access to the unique products they’re looking to gift to their team, clients, and beyond.
- Slick bulk address uploader, so no one has to manually enter all those tedious details.
- E-gifting via text, link, or email address, which not only makes instant gifting possible but also eliminates the need to sleuth for someone’s most current shipping address.
- Last-minute add-ons such as merchandise, gift cards, or extra touches to really take each gift to the next memorable level.
- An intuitive user interface that aligns with how people shop online today for frictionless gifting.
While we aren’t dabbling in the world of personal hygiene or finance, we are creating an entirely new category of ecommerce tools. Zest (us) is giving online shoppers the gifting solution they’ve been craving while giving ecommerce brands an entirely new set of tools for growing this lucrative channel.
Why Did We Pick Zest?
When you imagine “corporate gifting,” the last thing you probably associate the thought with is something light, bright, sprightly, or tangy.
In a way, that’s the point.
Just as we’re building this category, we’re (subtly) forcing shoppers and brands alike to rethink online gifting as a whole.
What was once an arduous, drawn-out, and stressful process is now a surprisingly delightful experience — just like that spiral of orange peel adorning a Negroni or the unexpected zip of citrus in an entrée.
And while the hassle-free journey gifters have is finally on par with the rest of their online shopping experiences, Zest ensures gift recipients get a piece of the surprisingly magical action. Receiving a gift out of the blue in a text message, complete with thoughtful message and customized card, adds a little somethin’ extra special to the day.
The word zest embodies energy, optimism, excitement, and joy, and we couldn’t think of any better word to embody our mission.
Add Some Zest to Your Life
While the word zest may be hundreds of years old, this Zest is as modern-day as you can get with ecommerce gifting.
Whether you choose to lather up with a bar of Ocean Breeze soap, grate a bit of lemon peel over a pile of pasta, or surprise and delight hundreds of people with thoughtful gifts without ever leaving your sofa, there are countless ways to add some zest to your life. What are you waiting for?
