PALO ALTO, Calif. – Surprise.com has launched a new concept on the Web – a gift site that doesn’t sell gifts. Surprise.com has built a community of inspired gift givers: Real people sharing their best gift ideas, no matter where they’re sold.
This focus on helping people find the right idea – rather than pushing people to buy products – gives four major advantages over competing gift sites:
Conventional gift sites are designed to sell whatever’s in stock, usually 400 to 1,000 products. Surprise.com is different: It’s not a store and it doesn’t sell gifts. Instead, it’s a directory with links to more than 3,500 surprising, intriguing gift ideas from sites all over the Web. Some of the gifts are even free, like “tickets to see a TV show taping.”
Conventional gift sites feature broad categories like “For Him” and “Birthday.” But broad categories don’t say enough about the recipient, so users still have to plow through lists of generic and often irrelevant products, like “motorized tie rack” and “extra large pasta maker.”
Surprise.com categories are built around unique qualities of the recipient, such as:
* Unusual Sense of Humor
* Stressed Out
* Appreciates Beautiful Things
* Former New Yorker
* Supports Al Gore
* Always Cold
* Dating Again
Surprise.com has 250 of these categories.
Conventional gift sites have no way of offering service-oriented gifts like “dance lessons” and “dinner delivery.” But Surprise.com makes that easy with a gift card. It works like a gift certificate, but runs on the Visa/Mastercard network, so it’s accepted by millions of merchants worldwide. So, gift givers can now send a gift card for any number of services, from “day spa” to “hot air balloon ride.”
We all know a few “gifted” givers – people we depend on for helpful gift suggestions. This Web site has created the first community where those gifted givers can share their expertise with the rest of us. The givers submit gift ideas, and Surprise.com editors publish the best ones.
Surprise.com makes it easy for people to experience the joy of giving gifts that are “just right” for everyone on their shopping list – just the best ideas for the best gifts, no matter who sells them.
