The exponential growth of e-commerce on a global scale has been revolutionising retail since the pandemic, meeting consumers’ demands for convenience, personalisation and diverse buying opportunities.
However, when it comes to the art of gift-giving, retailers have been challenged to provide a meaningful and timely solution – especially for last-minute shoppers. This struggle often results in missed opportunities when potential buyers abandon their shopping carts upon realising that their heartfelt gifts may not arrive on time or carry a hefty shipping cost.
Gift Flick presents an elegant solution to this dilemma, allowing gifters to seamlessly send their presents online accompanied by a personally recorded video acting as a “digital wrapper”– a modern-day digital version of traditional gift-wrapping paper. The video content is designed by the retailer to bring their brand creative to life, whilst enabling the consumer to personalise the creative with images, video message, and copy – all integrated within seconds. This tactic brings genuine emotion to the gift exchange, even if the physical item or experience is not delivered on the exact day of the gifting occasion. Retailers partnering with Gift Flick can now empower customers to express their sentiments thoughtfully without compromising on timely delivery – improving the experience for both gifters and recipients alike.
“This signals the end to online shipping deadlines,” says Gift Flick co-founder Helen Marsh. “You can still buy online, but then you reveal the present through a piece of personalised video content – which we call a ‘Gift Story’. Even though that pair of shoes you bought from Mimco is going to come a couple of days after the birthday moment, it doesn’t matter because you’ve revealed it digitally just on time in a personalised, heartfelt way. Whilst the delivery time factor isn’t a consideration when buying gift cards online, Gift Flick provides value because our digital gift wrapper enables the gifter to express thoughtfulness in an otherwise fairly hollow gift exchange.”
With 18 months in operation under its belt, the company’s trading data has revealed encouraging findings – including the fact that, when presented with the choice of sending a physical product through Gift Flick or a gift card, 92 per cent of consumers were choosing to digitally wrap a physical product. The data further revealed that a remarkable 72 per cent of Gift Flick transactions are centred around birthdays and expressions of gratitude, emphasising the year-round significance of gifting occasions beyond traditional seasonal peaks such as Christmas or Mother’s Day.
These findings also indicate a profound shift towards more personalised and heartfelt gifting experiences amongst Gift Flick’s target demographic – consumers between the ages of 18 and 35 who make approximately 15 gifting purchases per year, with an average annual spend of $150 – debunking the notion that gift cards are a default choice.
“While we’re growing our retailer and customer base, we’re feeling pretty confident,” says Marsh. “As of mid-year this year, we’ve already surpassed our transactions and revenues for last year. Consumer use is up 357 per cent, which is obviously phenomenal. Mother’s Day last year was really strong for us, but this year, we’re up 264 per cent. We’re now forecasting 300 per cent growth for this year, which matches what we did last year. This all tells us we’ve got something that resonates with the consumer and the retailer.”
“Since we launched 18 months ago, birthdays and thank you messages have represented 52 per cent of Gift Flick transactions, which is why we now offer it as an always-on service,” says Matt Jones, head of digital for Gift Flick retail partner Country Road. “We’re experimenting with a range of Country Road creative campaigns that capture the essence of gifting for moments like celebrating a new baby, seasonal holidays and milestone events. We’re excited to bring these to our customers over the coming months.”
“Insights tell us that there are an increasing number of consumers who are time-poor and looking for solutions to ease this pressure,” says Ashley Chan, e-commerce manager for Endota – which has also enabled Gift Flick as an option for buying products and e-gift cards. “The trend has also resulted in growing demand for long-distance giving, and Gift Flick provides a solution that facilitates this with little effort for the buyer.”
Beyond its standard retail application, Gift Flick’s platform has also proven to be a powerful tool for other corporate uses – such as employee recognition and rewards programs. By allowing businesses to celebrate employee milestones and achievements with thoughtful gifts and personal messages, the platform has been used to foster a sense of belonging and boost overall employee morale. In one example, Country Road decided to use Gift Flick to deliver a small credit to the brand’s Platinum account holders, with the personalised digital wrapper recorded by the company MD.
According to Marsh, such applications represent just the tip of the iceberg – as Gift Flick continues to explore innovative ways for businesses to forge meaningful connections through the art of gifting.
“We enjoy working with retail clients who have an innovative experimental mindset and are happy to try these things,” says Marsh. “Obviously, customers respond to such cues as being spoken to directly by the MD of one of their favourite brands – it’s like a totally new personal channel. But what’s really exciting is that we’re moving to change consumer behaviour. There’s not really anything like this in the Australian or New Zealand market, so we believe we’re building a whole new way to send and receive gifts. We’re hoping to see the day when phrases like ‘digital gift wrap’ will be synonymous with Gift Flick, and when people will be saying ‘I’m gonna Gift Flick my present’.”
Click here for more information about Gift Flick.
