Gifts by text message

Dutch cadeaucode.nl, which launched earlier this week, lets late or lazy gift givers send presents by text message. How it works: the giver goes to the company’s website, enters the recipient’s phone number and a message, pays by credit card, and a message containing a unique gift code is immediately sent to the recipient. While gift vouchers by email have been around at least as long as Amazon.com has, there’s a fun immediacy to receiving a gift by text message — a greater element of surprise, compounded by the gift voucher being instantly redeemable online. Cadeaucode’s gift selection is limited to ten items, currently ranging from a Madonna Live cd/dvd to the infamous ‘shave all over’ Philips Bodygroom, and the assortment is regularly updated. According to the company’s founders, the limited selection is there for a reason: Cadeaucode doubles as a buzz marketing tool. Gifts are provided to Cadeaucode at no cost by brands hoping to gain a bit of inexpensive exposure. From that point of view, it would definitely make sense for the website to offer more information about the products than it currently does. None of the gifts show a price tag, and although the gift voucher only comes in one value (EUR 25,25), some products have a higher retail value. Which adds to the appeal for consumers – it’s a present and a potential bargain, sweetly wrapped in a short message. 😉 (We reported on a similar initiative last year – Buy Me A Beer, a British hospitality spin-off that lets consumers turn ‘I owe you a drink’ into an sms that’s redeemable at participating pubs. More >>)