How to celebrate Mother's Day 2021 while in quarantine?

Company Profile

Giftiicon India was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered out of Bangalore, India. Founded by Mr Nakkyun Chong and Ms Ji Hyun Chong, Giftiicon enables users to send a gift of their choice in just 30 seconds through SMS and whatsapp without necessarily knowing the address of the recipient. The platform focuses on the casual gifting market where the act of giving and receiving gifts becomes purely about joy and eliminates the hassle. Giftiicon is currently available as a mobile app on Android and iOS Bangalore only and aims to expand Pan India by the end of this year. 

With the gifting market set to hit $127 billion by 2024, Giftiicon is optimistic that its platform is here to stay.

Concept

The idea of Giftiicon came from the observation that people, irrespective of their background and culture, often want to build connections with others and express their feelings and joy through gifts in various forms. Sometimes the limitation could be about what could be a perfect gift, where to find it and how to have it delivered.

Gifting itself often takes the form of generic items, when many would much rather be given something, they choose for themselves. This spawned the concept of a platform that would simplify the gifting process by not requiring personal contact information and by enabling gift requests that people can send to others on their behalf. Particularly in the post-Covid age when people are socially distanced yet want to retain their human connections, Giftiicon offers the perfect low-contact gifting option for anyone with a smartphone. The overarching mission is to strengthen emotional bonds through no-hassle gifting, not in spite of today’s digital-first culture but as a key part of it. 

How it works

Giftiicon allows users to pick from multiple categories of gifts listed on the platform, from F&B and Cosmetics to Home Decor and Flowers. Gifts can be given or requested with equal ease, and the recipient can redeem the gift within one month. At the time of redemption, users have the option of visiting the store to pick up the gift or request a pick-up via apps like Dunzo who is Giftiicon’s delivery partner.

Giftiicon offers the option of scheduling a gift so that users remember important dates like birthdays or anniversaries. There is also a Gen Z focused unique feature called ‘Tease’, that lets users request a gift.

For the merchant, Giftiicon enables pan-India marketing and requires no extra inventory investment as products are only required when the gift is paid for. Giftiicon also has tie-ups with payment gateways, which eliminates the hassle of POS integration and encourages immediate purchases.

Market profile

Giftiicon has already seen considerable success in South Korea, where young professionals leapt at the opportunity to give and receive mobile gift vouchers through a convenient platform. In India, the primary target audience consists of young professionals in the age group of 20-40yrs want to pamper themselves and their loved ones with special gifts, especially in post-Covid times when many young people are in long-distance relationships or living far away from their parents.

With many premium brands across multiple categories onboarded, Giftiicon aims to appeal to young working professionals based in Tier-1 cities where there are multiple brand outlets that recipients can collect their gifts from. Currently there is no other player in the gifting market, making it easier for Giftiicon to capture the hearts of their target audience. 

Spokesperson Profile

Ms Ji Hyun Chong is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Giftiicon. An industrial designer by training, she was educated at Pratt Institute in New York and University of the Arts London. She is co-founded Giftiicon India with her father, the CEO, to build Giftiicon as a brand in India after a successful run in South Korea. She enjoys travelling and experiencing different cultures and cuisines.