Wrapp Starts Global Expansion of Social Gifting Service in U.K.

LONDON --(Business Wire)--

Wrapp, the leading social gifting app for celebrating, thanking, surprising and delighting friends and family with free gift cards from top brands, is now available in the U.K. for download from Apple's (News - Alert) App Store or Android Market.

Created for social media and smartphone users, Wrapp makes it fun and easy to give, receive and redeem gift cards using mobile devices or the Web, and allows Facebook (News - Alert) friends to contribute to the presents.

"Wrapp is a super easy way to remember big and small moments in friends' lives with gifts of real value," said Hjalmar Winbladh, Wrapp co-founder and CEO. "We think simple acts of kindness like gift giving should be an everyday event - especially among friends and family."

Wrapp's charter merchant partners in the U.K. include:

ASOS - U.K.'s largest independent online fashion and beauty retailer
Aurora Fashions - the group behind respected women's fashion brands Coast, Oasis and Warehouse
Caratime - the world's premier online luxury jewels and watches e-shop
Clas Ohlson - home improvement chain with stores in Sweden, Norway, Finland and the U.K.
Fitness First - the world's largest gym and health club group
iSUBSCRiBE - magazine and newspaper subscription service featuring 2,000 titles
Karen Millen - glamorous, distinctive clothing and accessories for women
Pizza Express - the nation's favorite high street restaurant
Rosetta Stone - the world's #1 language-learning software
Theater Tokens - a network of more than 240 venues nationwide.

"We've enjoyed good results with Wrapp in Sweden, so being part of Wrapp's start in the U.K. was a natural next step," said Clas Ohlson U.K. Managing Director Mark Gregory. "We've been using Wrapp in Sweden to reward our loyal customers as well as promoting new store openings. Customers enjoy giving their friends free gift cards and they appreciate the convenience of using their phones to redeem them."

Gift cards in the U.K. are now a £4.5 billion industry, which has grown 2 percent to 12 percent over the last nine years, and is expected to continue its upward trend into 2012 andbeyond, according to the Bracknell-based UK Gift Card & Voucher Association.

"Wrapp has come up with a totally new and unique way to use mobile phones and social networking to provide online gifts to customers which can then be redeemed in our stores," said Ish Patel, Group Omni-Channel Director at Aurora Fashions. "One of the things we like best about Wrapp is our brand is being recommended and endorsed to you by your friends, giving the brand the benefit of the power of advocacy from those you trust most."

How Wrapp Works

To get started, download the Wrapp mobile app from Apple's App Store or Android (News - Alert) Market, or use the web app at www.wrapp.com, and connect the Wrapp app to your Facebook account.

Wrapp will immediately start alerting you about friends' birthdays and other occasions, and all you have to do to celebrate is choose a free or paid gift card offered by one of your friend's favorite brands - no strings attached.

The gift you give appears on your friend's Facebook wall, so all of your mutual friends can add on to the present.

To collect a gift card you click on the link sent to you in email, text message (SMS) or on your Facebook wall and automatically download the Wrapp app. When you're ready to use a gift card, you select the Wallet tab in the app, and the gift card you want to redeem. Then, press the Redeem button, and present the gift card and its barcode displayed on the phone's screen to the cashier, who will scan the barcode and complete the transaction.

"With Wrapp, your gift cards are always right there in your pocket when you're ready to pick out something you really like," said Winbladh. "Anyone around the world with friends in the U.K. can now use Wrapp to send real gifts as easily as posting messages on Facebook."

Wrapp was started last year by Winbladh and a small team of entrepreneurs in Sweden, including Andreas Ehn, Spotify's (News - Alert) founding chief technology officer; Carl Fritjofsson, strategy advisor to Groupon.se; Aage Reerslev, founder of mobile browser Squace; and Fabian Mansson, former CEO of H&M and Eddie Bauer, who now serves as Wrapp's chairman. Winbladh co-founded Sendit, the first mobile Internet company, where he served as CEO, and took it public in 1997, before being acquired by Microsoft (News - Alert). In 2006 Winbladh co-founded Rebtel, now the world's largest independent mobile VoIP company.

Gift partners participating in Wrapp's start in Sweden include the country's largest sporting goods retailer Stadium, Dixon's nationwide consumer electronics giant Elgiganten, designer underwear brand Björn Borg, street wear fashion stores WeSC, and household goods chain Cevera among 30 other top Swedish merchants.

Since mid-November when Wrapp began service, more than 150,000 consumers have sent nearly 1 million gift cards in Sweden. Every gift card posted on a recipient's Facebook timeline or wall is seen by approximately 80 percent of their friends. Participating merchants report that sales average at least four times the face value of a free gift card offered on Wrapp.

About Wrapp

Wrapp is a social gifting service for celebrating friends using mobile devices or the web. Wrapp allows friends to give and add money to free and paid gift cards provided by top brands, making it as easy to send a gift of real value as sending a greeting. Founded in 2011 by a group of serial entrepreneurs, Wrapp is based in Stockholm, London and Silicon Valley. Celebrate with friends every day at www.wrapp.com.

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