We're a little coupon-ed out. But freebies from friends? That could work.
Boomerang gives your friends benefits.
The new social gifting service lets your send vouchers, not just coupons or mere Happy Birthday well wishes, to people via email or Facebook. It launches today with $1 million in backing from Groupon cofounder Brad Keywell's venture fund Lightbank. It'll need the momentum in the increasingly crowded gifting market.
Boomerang's shtick is that unlike traditional gift companies (whether digital or of the gift-card kind) which rely on buyers choosing a suitable gift for the recipient. Boomerang uses the recipients Facebook data and specific geographic location to come up with a short list of suitable events--things like dinner at a good restaurant, spa visits, or more outdoors pursuits like kayaking.
The integration with your Facebook social graph is pretty deep, Founder and CEO Zachary Smith tells Fast Company, and e-mail functionality eliminates the need for paper. Boomerang gift recipients gets links to a subsection of the Boomerang website which they can then open on their smartphones and show to merchants to redeem gifts. So it's a little simpler than waving a Groupon printout at a restaurant and asking someone to do math. Smith noted gifting is a hundred billion-dollar space, but one that's "dominated by massive national players--the Amazons, Barnes & Nobles, Best Buys, and Walmarts of the world. We really want to put local businesses into that fray, via an experience that's a lot more thoughtful, a lot more personalized." Boomerang is riding Groupon's wave of discovery, capitalizing on the idea that friends can turn you on to a merchant you never knew was right around the corner with the hope that you'll choose local businesses over big name chains.
Unlike discount apps or deal sites, Smith thinks Boomerang has an edge because it lets its merchant partners reach people who may be interested in spending more money with them "without cheapening ...
[Source: Fast Company]
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