社会化礼品应用Wrapp能成为后Groupon时代的明星吗？

    甚至连Groupon的投资人、创业公司的大腕雷德•霍夫曼（LinkedIn创始人——译注）也认为，对零售商来说，Wrapp要比团购更有效。霍夫曼称：“它与团购网站有着类似的价值主张，但吸引客户的方式却非常与众不同。它不是吆喝说‘嘿，我这里的东西比标价便宜’，而是一种完全不同的营销推广方式。”今年1月，霍夫曼在Wrapp的A轮募资中投了1050万美元，还加入了该公司的董事会。

    与霍夫曼同时加入Wrapp董事会的还有一位投资界名宿——尼克拉斯•曾特罗姆。他是Skype和Kazaa（世界著名的P2P软件——译注）的联合创始人。本次投资他是通过其位于伦敦的风险投资公司Atomico来完成的。

    Wrapp目前在美国共有10个合作品牌。温布拉德称，另有15家商户将在几周内加盟。公司的盈利之道是：收取零售商手续费，以及抽取礼品卡金额的一定比例。

    Wrapp是去年11月在瑞典推出的，不久前在英国和挪威开业。目前，它已拥有165,000名活跃用户，他们共送出超过140万张卡。平均而言，零售商实现的销售额是礼品卡价值的四倍还多。

    鉴于美国礼品卡市场的规模和增长势头——仅2011年圣诞节期间，美国人就送出了价值超过300亿美元的卡——不难看出，为什么温布拉德、霍夫曼和曾特罗姆对Wrapp登陆美国的前景如此看好。 “我们与零售商100%同进退，” 温布拉德说。

    译者：清远

    Even Groupon investor and startup sage Reid Hoffman suggests that Wrapp could prove more effective for retailers than daily deals. "It has a similar value proposition but appeals to consumers in a very different way," says Hoffman, who invested in Wrapp's $10.5 million Series A round in January and joined the company's board of directors. "It's not saying, 'hey, my product is worth less than I charge for.' It's a different kind of marketing promotion."

    Hoffman was joined on Wrapp's board by fellow high profile investor, Niklas Zennström, the cofounder of Skype (MSFT) and Kazaa, through his London-based venture capital firm, Atomico.

    Wrapp is opening in the United States with 10 brands, and Winbladh says another 15 merchants will join in a matter of weeks. The company makes money by charging retailers a transaction fee and a percentage of paid cards that are gifted through the app.

    Wrapp launched in Sweden in November, and more recently opened its service in the U.K. and Norway. Since then, it has amassed about 165,000 active users that have gifted more than 1.4 million cards. On average, retailers saw a lift in sales that was more than four times the value of the free cards.

    Given the size and growth of the U.S. gift card market -- more than $30 billion in cards were given during the 2011 holiday season alone -- it's not hard to see why Winbladh, Hoffman and Zennström are salivating at the prospect of Wrapp's U.S. launch. Says Winblath, "We are 100% aligned with the retailer."