Social gift-giving service Wrapp has launched in Germany as it tries to fend off a Rocket clone. The Swedish startup enables users to send Facebook friends free gifts and gift cards. It has teamed up with companies including O’Neill, Lieferando and Marc O’Polo for the German launch.
Silicon Allee revealed in February how the Samwer brothers’ investment vehicle was developing a similar service called DropGifts. Wrapp CEO and co-founder Hjalmar Winbladh later hit out at DropGifts and other clones, vowing to stay on top by being innovative.
“Wrapp has arrived – and with some of the best and biggest brands in Germany – making individual and group gifting super fun and easy,” Winbladh said in Wednesday’s announcement.
The friend-to-friend marketing platform was launched in Sweden in November. It has since spread to the UK, the US, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands. So far, nearly 300,000 users have given their Facebook friends 2.2 million free and paid gifts and gift cards to be redeemed in stores operated by around 90 major European and American retailers.
For merchants, Wrapp says it is a valuable platform for acquiring and retaining new customers, with participating vendors reporting that each sale averages four to six times the value of the free gift card they allow Wrapp users give to their friends.
Marc O’Polo Sales Director Alexander Gedat said: “The idea behind Wrapp convinced and inspired us right from the start – it is innovative, easy to use and very promising.”
Willem Haitink, CEO at O’Neill, said: “With over 650,000 fans, Facebook engagement is a huge focus for us, and we are always looking for new social media marketing tools to connect with our consumers. We believe Wrapp offers an innovative, easy to use tool, which can help us achieve that.”
To use Wrapp, you can download the mobile app for iPhone or Android, or use the Web platform and connect it to your Facebook account.