[March 29, 2012]

Wrapp Activates Social Gifting Service in Norway

Wrapp, the social gifting app that lets you give your Facebook (News - Alert) friends free gift cards from popular retailers, today continued its global expansion by activating service in Norway.

Wrapp makes it fun and easy to give, receive and redeem gift cards using mobile devices or the Web, and allows Facebook friends to contribute to the presents.

For merchants, Wrapp is a proven, discount-free customer acquisition and retention platform for conducting performance-based campaigns. With Wrapp, retailers use friend-to-friend marketing to drive highly targeted in-store and on-line sales, and have real-time access to aggregated campaign and customer demographic data.

"Some people call it in-the-moment gifting - we call it celebrating, thanking, surprising and delighting friends with free gift cards anytime, from anywhere," said Wrapp CEO and Co-founder, Hjalmar Winbladh. "We wanted a way to make it as easy to send a gift as it was to write on your friends' Facebook walls, so we invented Wrapp, the original social gifting service."

Wrapp began operating mid-November in Sweden, and earlier this month joined forces with 10 major merchants to start service in the U.K. To date, some 150,000 consumers have sent more than 1 million gift cards that can be redeemed in stores operated by over 50 major retailers.

Wrapp's charter merchant partners in Norway include:

• Björn Borg - designer underwear
• Clas Ohlson - home improvement
• Ellos - Scandinavian fashion for women, men and children
• EuroFlorist - same-day flower delivery service
• Granit - home decorating
• Happy Socks - unisex colorful socks
• Indiska - Bohemian fashion and home furnishings
• Junkyard - street, sports, skate and ski apparel
• La Redoute - French fashion and house wares
• Lovefilm - Amazon's provider of movies and game rental by mail or streaming
• Nelly.com - clothing, swimwear, footwear, and sports fashion for men and women
• Triwa - watches
• WeSC - street-style clothing and accessories

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 to six times the value of the free gift card given using Wrapp.

How Wrapp Works

To get started, download the Wrapp mobile app from Apple's (News - Alert) App Store or Android 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.

The gift you give appears on your friend's Facebook wall, so all their friends can add 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 show 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 in your pocket when you're ready to pick out something you really like," said Winbladh. "Anyone around the world can now use Wrapp to instantly send real gifts to their friends in Norway."

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; Magnus Hult, who played a key role in building Spotify's original technology and platform; Aage Reerslev, founder of mobile browser maker Squace; Leo Giertz, founder of Barefoot Hackers, one of Sweden's most acclaimed iPhone (News - Alert) development shops; Fabian Mansson, former CEO of H&M and Eddie Bauer, who now serves as Wrapp's chairman; and Carl Fritjofsson, strategy advisor to Groupon.se. 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.

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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