Recently we had an opportunity to speak with Dmitriy Peregudov, the CEO and founder at GiftBasketsOverseas.com about Gift Baskets Overseas

Please share with us the backstory of what motivated you to create this app.

The idea for the Gift Baskets Overseas app didn’t come from a single “aha” moment — it came from years of watching how people actually use our service.



For nearly two decades, we’ve helped customers send gifts across borders during moments that matter: birthdays, holidays, thank-yous, apologies, and sometimes very emotional life events. Over time, one pattern became very clear to me — gifting is rarely planned at a desk. It happens on the move, between meetings, in airports, late at night, or when someone suddenly realizes, “I need to do this now.”



Our website served customers well, but we saw a growing need for something faster, more intuitive, and more personal. Many of our customers are repeat senders like HR managers, sales teams, founders, and individuals with loved ones abroad. They wanted a simpler way to reorder, track deliveries, save addresses, and manage gifting without friction.



The app was our answer to that behavior shift. We built it to remove stress from gifting. To make it easier for someone to act on intention the moment it appears. And to bring the experience closer to how people actually live and work today.



In many ways, the app reflects our philosophy as a company: technology should support human connection, not complicate it. The Gift Baskets Overseas app is simply another way we help people show up for each other faster, easier, and with confidence no matter where they are in the world.

How is your app different than the rest of the market? Which unique need does it fill?

Most gifting apps focus on local delivery or impulse purchases. Our app was built for a very different reality: people who need to send meaningful gifts across borders, reliably, and at scale.



The biggest difference is that the Gift Baskets Overseas app isn’t just a storefront, it’s an operational bridge between countries. International gifting is complex. Different currencies, local vendors, cultural expectations, delivery constraints, and compliance rules all come into play. Most apps simply aren’t designed to handle that complexity behind the scenes, but our app is.



What makes it unique is the combination of global reach and local execution. Users can send gifts to more than 200 countries and territories, while the products themselves are sourced and delivered locally. That means faster delivery, culturally relevant gift options, and fewer surprises which is critical when you’re gifting internationally.



Another key difference is who the app is built for. Many of our users are repeat senders — corporate teams, remote managers, HR leaders, and people with families spread across the world. The app makes it easy to reorder gifts, store recipient details, track deliveries, and manage multiple orders without starting from scratch every time.



Finally, the app fills a trust gap that exists in international gifting. When you’re sending something thousands of miles away, you need confidence that it will arrive on time and as expected. Our app is built around removing that uncertainty.



So the unique need we fill is simple but powerful: making international gifting feel as easy, predictable, and human as sending a gift next door.

What is the coolest or most innovative feature of your app?

The most innovative feature of our app is how little information it actually requires to get a gift delivered.



In traditional eCommerce, you need a complete address, perfect details, and everything confirmed upfront. Real life doesn’t work that way especially when you’re gifting internationally. People often don’t have a full address, or they’re sending a surprise and don’t want to ask.



Our app is designed around that reality.



If a customer knows even partial information such as a phone number or an email they can still place the order. From there, our customer service team steps in to do what automation alone can’t: coordinate locally, confirm delivery details with the recipient, and make sure the gift arrives smoothly and discreetly.



This combination of ease of use and human backup is intentional. We don’t believe innovation means removing people from the process entirely. In international gifting, the smartest systems are the ones that know when to bring humans in.



So while the app feels simple on the surface with its quick ordering, clean design, easy reordering, what makes it truly different is what happens behind the scenes. Technology handles speed and convenience, and our team ensures accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and trust.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of the creation of this app?

The most rewarding part of creating this app has been seeing how it helps people stay connected, no matter the distance.



At its core, our mission has always been about building meaningful relationships across borders. The app simply gives people another, easier way to act on that intention, to reach out, show care, and maintain connections in a world where families, teams, and partners are increasingly global.



Knowing that something we built makes it easier for people to show up for each other, even from thousands of miles away, is what makes this work truly rewarding.

What surprised you most in your journey to create this app?

What surprised me most was how fluid our customers’ journeys turned out to be.



Many people who initially use our service for work in HR, sales, or for client gifting quickly start using the app for personal moments as well. Birthdays, family celebrations, thank-yous and so on. It reinforced something we believe strongly: when a tool removes friction and builds trust, people naturally extend it into more personal parts of their lives.

How did you decide which platforms to release your app on and do you plan on releasing your app to other platforms?

The decision was driven entirely by our customers. We’ve always worked with a very diverse, global audience from different countries, different industries, and very different technology habits. Some customers are iOS-first, others rely heavily on Android, and many switch between devices throughout the day. To serve them properly, we knew we couldn’t limit the experience to a single platform.



Our goal is to be present wherever our customers already are, rather than asking them to adapt to us. That’s why we focus on broad platform availability and why we continue to evaluate additional platforms and improvements as usage patterns evolve.

What features do you hope to roll out to your app in the future?

Our approach to new features is simple: we listen closely to our customers and build based on what actually helps them. Because our users range from individuals sending a single gift to teams managing ongoing international gifting, their needs evolve quickly. We pay close attention to recurring feedback, usage patterns, and friction points, and when we hear the same request consistently, there’s a strong chance it moves into development.



Rather than locking ourselves into a fixed roadmap, we see the app as a living product. It grows alongside our customers, shaped by how they use it and what they need next.

Do you have any recommendations or advice for others wanting to create a mobile app?

Listen to your users' needs and build for them!