News

Social gifting coming on strong

April 30, 2012

Brick-and-mortar retailers are always looking for new, efficient ways to drive store traffic without diluting their brands. That was the inspiration for Sweden's Hjalmar Winbladh to launch Wrapp, a mobile phone app for smartphones, tablets and computers that allows Facebook friends to send one another free gift cards from participating retailers. Users can then add to the gift cards to increase their value. The virtual cards can then be stored on mobile devices and redeemed for future use either online or inside physical stores. The app has already been successful in Europe and is launching in the U.S. today.

Since mid-November more than 165,000 active users have given more than 1.4 million gift cards that can be redeemed in some 50 major retail stores across Europe, according to Wrapp, which has received $10.5 million in funding from Greylock and technology VC firm Atomico. What's more, the company said merchants who are participating with Wrapp report that each sale averages four to six times the value of the free promotional gift card users give to their friends.

"Wrapp is the ultimate win, win, win app," said Winbladh, now Wrapp's CEO. "You and I get to give our friends free gifts and promotional gift cards from great retailers, the gifts we give are stored in our friends' phones so they're always with them when they want to buy something they really want, and the merchants get a proven customer acquisition and retention platform built on Wrapp's friend-to-friend marketing for conducting performance-based campaigns."

In the United States, the company already has partnerships with an impressive list of retailers including H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, Gap Inc., Sephora and Fab.

"Working with Wrapp creates a convenient and innovative way for our customers to give free promotional gifts to friends and family using Facebook," said Art Peck, president of Gap North America, in a statement. "We know our customers spend a lot of time on Facebook, and we think the Wrapp gifts are something our shoppers will love to give and receive."

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