Retail TouchPoints: Can Social Gifting Help Retailers Boost Sales and Integrate Channels?
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website.
Retail industry experts predict that the immediacy of peer-to-peer gift giving will bring social gifting into the mainstream within the next year.
Social gifting allows consumers to send both free and fee-based digital gift cards to friends via social media, e-mail and even text messages. Digital gift cards are stored on the receiver's mobile device for future redemption in-store or online.
Applications such as Boomerang, Facebook Gifts, Jifiti, Treater and Wrapp have helped turn the once manual gift card exchange process into a highly social and mobile experience. They also encourage collaboration among social connections; some apps allow friends and family to pool their money and then send a shared gift card to a recipient.
Social gifting also helps address a common pain point among many retailers: creating a seamless and consistent brand experience. Because digital gift cards purchased and shared via social gifting apps can be used both online and in-store, consumers have more options and flexibility in making their purchases across channels.
For example, Simon Malls is partnering with Jifiti to help cement the connection between brick-and-mortar stores and consumers' mobile devices. Featuring a barcode scanner, the Jifiti app allows consumers to scan products, then add them to digital wish lists. Family and friends can access the wish lists and purchase specific items online. Once a gift is purchased, Jifiti users receive an in-app notification as well as a gift card number they use to obtain the in-store item.
To make the digital gifting experience even more compelling, retailers can work with business partners to "add incentives, free gifts and complementary items to attract more users to leverage the applications and send gifts," according to Leon Perera, CEO of Spire Research and Consulting.
An increasing number of retailers are testing social gifting applications and solutions to determine the impact on customer awareness, acquisition and retention. As more implementations take place, merchants will recognize the overall engagement value and opportunity of social gifting, according to Shaul Weisband, co-founder and CMO for Jifiti.
"Gifting is very emotional and thoughtful," Weisband said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. "The key benefit of social gifting is the ability to share that experience with others — whether by involving them in the process itself through group gifting, or making them aware of the gifting experience by sharing messages or gifts through social networks."