이번에 이야기할 사이트는 Wantful.com이다.
사이트 이름 참 느낌 온다. 굳이 해석을 해보자면 "원하는"... ㅋㅋ
그렇다 사람들은 자기가 선물을 받을 때가 되면 어떤 선물을 받을까
기대하면서 자기가 갖고 싶어하는 것을 은연중에... 직접적으로 이야기
하는 사람은 많지 않다.
특히 남녀간에는... 물론 부모 자식의 경우에는 좀 직설적으로 말하기는
하지만... "그냥 돈으로 줘!@!! ㅋㅋㅋ
그러다 보니까.. 받아도 감흥이 없고 그게 고스란히 얼굴에 드러나니
준 사람도 맥빠지고..
그러한 문제를 조금이라도 해결하고자 만든 사이트 같다.
어찌보면 큰 일 아니지만.. 참 재미난 발상과 실행 방안인것 같다.
내 개인적으로는 이것이 진정한 소셜커머스 아닌가 싶다...
wantful을 이용하는 방법을 요약해보면 아래와 같다.
1. 페이스북에 로그인
2. 선물 받을 사람 또는 페이스북에 등록된 친구 선택
3. 친구에 대한 정보를 (신용정보 수준 아님) wantful로 전달
4. 선물 가격 범위와 좋아할 만한 선물을 고른다.
5. 그리고 나면 친구에게 선물 리스트가(아주 멋있는 책자) 전달이 된다.
6. 친구가 고르면 땡~ 배달..
나름 완벽한...
하지만 솔직히 서프라이징한 맛은 없다고 볼수 있다.
선물의 가장 큰 재미는 서프라이징과.. 관심인데..
내가 이야기를 안해도 내가 필요한게 뭐고,
내가 뭘 갖구 싶다는 것을 알고 있겠지.. 하는 맘을 만족시키는 것이
선물인데..
이맛이 떨어지기 땀시.. 좀 그렇다. 하지만 나날이 발전하고 있다니까
지켜 볼 만한 사이트인것 같다.
Wantful is a startup founded by John Poisson, a serial entrepreneur previously known by Radar, a pioneering and successful mobile social media service. Wantful aims to help users in the process of choosing gifts, relieving them of having to choose one specific item on a given store, while preserving the essence behind a good gift, that is to take care where picking a present.
A simple process to guide you through Wantful
Wantful has been designed to really help users to choose gift ideas, so they’ve designed a simple process that assist you in 5 stages.
Assistance, not automatic
Although Wantful is heavily based on technology, it doesn’t use complex algorithms for recommend products to the users. Instead, they use a wizard like process, where you have to answer several questions. So Wantful relies on your knowledge about the friend you want to make a gift to, and help you in that process. It’s a good starting point, because gifts are not purely based on the main interests of the person you’re going to send a gift to, but also to what kind of things you prefer to give.
Not quite large, but not common, selection of products
Wantful base selection of products is not quite large, compared with traditional ecommerce sites, as it offers nearly 1,000 thousand items. But they take care of the selection, it’s rare to find common gifts, as they’ve worked on choosing special gifts, like handmade earrings, premium meat, or premium chocolate boxes. Although we like the selection of premium products, we also think is hard to target everyone with a selection of 1,000 items, specially when there are a lot of similar gifts (different kinds of meat, chocolates, etc.). For example, we’ve done a test, and we haven’t find a lot of possibilites for technology geeks like us.
Don’t forget, you pay for the assistance
If you want to “optimize” your money, Wantful is not an option, as you’ll pay an extra cost for all the assistance, and for the book your friend would receive. But it can be a very good option if you value your time, and prefer to pay an extra cost for saving several hours looking for the best possible gifts in several online and physical stores.
Wantful, Gift-Giving Start-Up, Announces Funding
By NICK BILTON|
March 20, 2012, 11:59 am
Photos via WantfulWhen it comes to sending people birthday and Christmas gifts, I would likely win the award for: “Worst. Gift-giver. Ever.” Not only do I pick terrible presents for people, but worse, I have half-written birthday cards stuffed around my house that never actually made it to the post office.
Wantful, a start-up that hopes to reinvent gift-giving, seems like it could offer the perfect solution. The company allows people to use a simply-designed Web site to choose gifts to form a small catalog of gifts. The person receiving the gift is then sent in the mail a beautifully designed and personalized catalog that allows them to choose a gift, which is then also sent to them in the mail.
It’s the perfect solution for everyone involved: the person sending the gift doesn’t have to go to the store and post office, and the person receiving the gift gets something they might actually want.
The company, which began last year, announced Tuesday that it had closed a $5.5 million Series A round of venture financing. The financing is being led by Polaris Venture Partners. The round also includes financing from previous seed investors, including Harrison Metal, Greylock Partners and Forerunner Ventures.
“There’s a lot of activity circling around the gift-giving space, and we believe we can build a much richer, more personalized and much more thoughtful experience,” explained John Poisson, Wantful’s chief executive, in an interview. “The biggest player in the space right now is the gift card business, which totaled $109 billion dollars in sales last year.”
The Wantful gif is a customized catalog of gifts chosen by the gift giver.
Mr. Poisson, who is a serial entrepreneur, added that the gift card business doesn’t work any more as it has “been commoditized to the point of absurdity, and consumers are dissatisfied.” He says he believes it’s possible to create an experience that is easy for the gift giver and enjoyable for the person receiving the gift.
Wantful said it also added Ryan Spoon, a principal at Polaris Venture Partners, to the Wantful board of directors. A number of angel investors have also invested in Wantful, including Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare, Dave Morin, founder of Path and Alison Pincus, co-founder of One King’s Lane.
