Developing GiftYa: The Best Way to Give a Gift(card)

Gifting Market Innovation Overdue

There are a handful of industries that have not caught up with the times. Gifting is one of them. The last meaningful innovation in the space was the introduction of gift cards back in 1995, almost 25 years ago! Gift cards were first launched by Blockbuster, a company that redefined the mom-and-pop video rental business. Yet they were put out of business by Netflix, who reinvented the industry with a mail-order DVD alternative that saved you the trip to the video store, and offered a huge selection of titles with none of those annoying late fees. A few years later, Netflix yet again reinvented itself and the industry with a highly successful streaming service. Within the same timeframe, gift cards still remain largely unchanged, except for the introduction of egift cards, which in their current form don’t address many of the issues the plastic cards carry.

Gift Card Market is Broken

‍Eventually gift cards became the most desired gift by Americans and grew into a $130B industry. Yet, gift cards are often lost, stolen or merely go unused - representing billions of dollars in consumer value lost. In addition, the selection of gift cards is mostly limited to big box retailers and chain establishments, making for very impersonal gifts. What’s much worse, they are abused by some to perform illegal activities.

Gifting is Broken Too

‍Gifting is a beautiful form of human expression and connection that is as old and primitive as humankind, dating back to Neanderthal times. Gifting was born out of a human desire to connect, to generate authentic, meaningful connections between people. At its best, gifting reinforces or enhances relationships, and often even creates new ones. Yet this beautiful  sentiment has been loaded with inconvenience, anxiety and time consumption. Worse yet, it has been corrupted by superficial, manipulative or “trying-to-impress” intentions. Current gifting processes and options lead us to pick what we want to gift, or what is less inconvenient, and not what the other person wants to receive, which largely defeats the purpose.

The Disruption

‍There is a huge opportunity to fix this by providing a platform that empowers people with intuitive and seamless technology that solves all these issues - convenience, immediacy, time saving, personalization, and ultimately the ability to deliver a gift that makes people connect. A thoughtless gift will go largely unused and/or unnoticed. A thoughtful gift, on the contrary, will connect both sender and recipient the way it was meant to be. A memorable, authentic and emotional connection that brings people together.

GiftYa

‍GiftYa was created to provide a better option; a beautifully presented personalized gift alternative that cannot be lost, stolen or used for illegal activity with the ability to buy for any merchant - local and national, small and large - anywhere in the country and delivered in seconds. From the convenience of your smartphone, you can deliver an immediate gift, or schedule it for a special date, personalize it with a photo or video, a message, and most importantly, select that special local store, restaurant, spa or bed and breakfast that the recipient will treasure.

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