A raft of fashion leaders, including Lorna Jane, brandsExclusive and Gazal, have signed onto a new retail service set to take the Australian market by storm.
Wrapp, a new social gifting company, launched its local offering this month, and has already confirmed retailers such as Lorna Jane, brandsExclusive, La Senza, Ben Sherman, Mossimo and Superdry as clients.
The service, first launched in Sweden last November, allows users to give Facebook 'friends' free gift cards provided by top retailers that want to attract customers.
As previously reported on ragtrader.com.au, the site opened offices in Sydney in April this year, and is backed by Skype and LinkedIn founders Niklas Zennstrom and Reid Hoffman, Spotify’s first chief technology officer Andreas Ehn and Rebtel founder Hjalmar Winbladh.
According to its founders, the Australian launch of Wrapp follows the significant global growth of the service within the last eight months, which has seen nearly 325,000 active Wrapp users give their Facebook friends just over of 2.4 million free and paid gift cards.
Winbladh CEO of Wrapp said research suggests Australia is the company's next budding new market.
“Australians spend about $2.5 billion a year on gifts cards for those they care about and Wrapp is set to make the decision and purchase process a whole lot easier,” he said.
“Everyone loves to be recognised, so celebrate your friends – make gift giving a daily event, and the world will be a better place for it.”
He said participating retailers have also reported that each sale averages four to six times the value of the free gift card they let Wrapp users give to their friends.
True Alliance CEO David Smith, who helms one of the largest distributors in the Australian and New Zealand markets for some of the world's most famous fashion brands, including Ben Sherman and Speedo, said Wrapp is a welcome tool.
“Wrapp is on to something big here,” he said.
“Consumers will no doubt think it’s super fun, and really convenient, because the gift cards you give are stored in your friends’ phones so they’re always with them when they want to buy something they really want.”
Lorna Jane COO Anna Cristaldi added that the app will benefit sales and help drive customers in-store.
“We’re always on the lookout for new ways to hold on to our best customers or find new ones – or both – and Wrapp looks like a great way to do it.”
Other Australian retailers supporting the Wrapp service include brandsExclusive and fashion house Gazal.
BrandsExclusive head of marketing Geetika Marek Guz said the company is keen to see the impact of Wrapp on its sales in Australia.
“Our experience tells us that there certainly is a competitive edge in embracing new technologies. Wrapp offers a fun and exciting way to reward customers of brandsExclusive and their friends by instantly providing gift cards to shop on our site.
“We are excited about the potential of social commerce and Wrapp is one of the first providers to really address this in a new way.”
Dianne Taylor, group brand marketing manager of Gazal-owned menswear e-boutique themensshop.com.au, also said the launch of Wrapp in Australia is a golden opportunity for fashion businesses operating in the market.
“We heard about Wrapp coming to Australia and jumped onto it straight away, we love the idea that friends can send gifts online through their social communities. The Mens Shop.com.au is a new site launching only in March this year so we are obviously looking at ways to create more awareness and ensure many are exposed to the ultimate customer service experience we provide,” she said.
“With Wrapp, the proof will be in the results, it’s early days, but signs from the other international locations are good.”
Wrapp is a social gifting service which facilitates the exchange of free and paid gifts from attractive brands. Founded in the first half of 2011 by a group of serial entrepreneurs, Wrapp is based in Stockholm, with offices in the UK, US, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.