Retailers sign up to DropGifts in order to monetise social networking investments

Retailers sign up to DropGifts in order to monetise social networking investments

Retailers including John Lewis, Urban Outfitters and Amazon.co.uk have been revealed among the early adopters of a new social gifting service DropGifts, which launched in the UK late last week.

DropGifts is a new international service designed to allow customers to send gift cards to friends and family via Facebook for birthdays or other special occasions.

It allows Facebook users to send both free and paid-for gift cards to friends and family on any internet-connected device or through a dedicated mobile app.

International presence planned

It is already available to customers in the UK, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Spain and its developers said it will be live in over 20 countries by autumn of this year.

David Van Reyk, joint managing director of DropGifts, said: “DropGifts allows people to give and receive real gifts via social media. We have signed up numerous top-name retailers already including John Lewis, Amazon.co.uk and Hotel Chocolat and they are telling us that they see this as a tremendously exciting new sales channel for their gift cards.

“We work with our retailer partners on a one-to-one basis and this ensures that the gift card redemption process is as simple as possible and fits with their existing in-store and online processes and procedures. This makes us a really attractive partner for retailers.”

Gift cards for between £5 and £200 can be sent both at home and abroad via the service. Once the card has been sent, it is served to the recipient via Facebook, who can then redeem it online or instore. The system also enables Facebook users to club together and contribute to a card to increase its value.

Gifts appear in Facebook’s news feeds when they are given and received. The company said this viral effect means that retailers are benefitting from peer-to-peer recommendation in social media every time one of their gift cards is purchased.

Retailers endorse social effect

Simon Williams, John Lewis head of corporate sales, said: “We are thrilled to be part of the launch of DropGifts in the UK. We see this as an excellent opportunity to share John Lewis gift vouchers via Facebook.”

Aurelia Noel, Urban Outfitters head of digital marketing in Europe, said: “Being part of DropGifts is an exciting prospect for Urban Outfitters. Not only will it allow us to reach audiences in the UK, we are particularly excited about the potential reach of the platform internationally.

“It will allow us to connect with customers in France and Germany, where we are looking to expand our brand among fashion-conscious, digitally savvy consumers.”