DropGifts, a startup developed by German-based Internet company Rocket Internet, is coming to South Africa.
DropGifts is a social gifting tool that allows people to give personalised gift cards to their friends through Facebook. Gift cards received can then be redeemed by the recipient for any item in the retail store in which it was purchased.
DropGifts, that claims to already be a market leader in the UK, Germany and France, and has also launched in Italy, is currently in its second phase of its international roll-out. With a high Facebook penetration, South Africa was chosen as part of the second rollout and will be launched locally by the end of the first quarter of 2012.
Kevin Tucker, MD of DropGifts South Africa said, “œWe‘re very excited about launching in South Africa. Most international companies don‘t see the benefit of launching here, but with the relatively high number of Facebook users, South Africa is, in fact, a perfect market to launch DropGifts.”
Tucker, who founded price-comparison site PriceCheck that was since acquired by MIH Internet Africa in 2010, is excited about bringing the social gifting concept to South Africa that has so far proved to be successful in the countries it has launched.
Tucker explains that “œThe gift card market is already a $100 billion market in the US alone, and in South Africa it really is growing in maturity. We‘re seeing all kinds of gifts cards on sale, and now we‘re bringing that to Facebook and smartphones, with our DropGifts app.“
At the moment, users buying vouchers are required to pay with a credit card but DropGifts are working toward enabling EFT and debit card payments in the future. There are also no additional or out of the ordinary bank charges.
Once the gift card has been purchased, the recipient is notified by email and on their Facebook wall. The receiver then goes to the DropGifts website through the link provided to login or register and the gift card will then appear in their wallet. The form that the gift card takes depends on the retailer: For on-line retailers it will be a code that the receiver can enter on their site when making a purchase, for some in-store retailers gift receivers will be able to print out the gift card and take it into the store and there will also be some physical gift cards that will be posted to the recipient.
Because DropGifts uses Facebook as a platform to connect users, one of the benefits of exchanging gifts means that South Africans living overseas can still send Rand value gifts to their friends and family back home. Users will also have the ability to pool money together and give a group gift card to a friend so a small contribution made by one individual can become something quite substantial.
There will also be free gift cards on offer from a variety of popular brands and retailers and every day a number of gift cards will be available free of charge. Some of the partnering retailers include Zando, Sportsmans Warehouse, 5 Rooms, Glossybox and Wantitall.
For merchants, DropGifts offers them a unique platform with which to market and promote their brands. Research in Germany has shown that receipts of gift cards spend upwards of three times the gift card value in-store or online.
