We would like to start our journey by sharing a user story with you. A very simple story of a group of people, for whom our product AproGift not only solves some key problems but also delights them with the wonderfully convenient experience.
Manish works for an MNC in Gurgaon. He is hard-working, intelligent but above all, he is a great team player, something that he takes a lot of pride in.
Little did poor Manish know that this great trait of his will backfire on him one day. That day came when he decided, just like a team player would, that his entire team should put in money for a gift for their boss on his promotion.
Hence, he went ahead and bought an expensive chandelier as a gift. What followed was a painful journey, where he had to handle cash exchanges among his friends and follow them for weeks to pay him their share. After all, everybody had his own free time and of course, everybody does not carry cash at all times in a purse or pocket.
It became quite an uncomfortable situation and it even went to an extent against his team work principle as the pending money was affecting team dynamics! This issue haunted him again and again for colleagues’ birthdays, weddings and so on.
Post witnessing his plight, we had to step in. After all, something as important as team work dynamics and esteem was at stake here.
We helped him notice the convenience that our solution provides to him –
- He can now choose the gift online from his favorite shopping site
- Since our plugin for group-gifting is integrated on that site itself, he can just click on ‘group-gift’ button and start the process by inviting his colleagues via email/facebook.
- We will take care of collecting money online from all the members
- Once the money is collected, the gift can be easily shipped to Manish or directly to the recipient (in this case, his boss) too!
Seems like the office members too are more happy than ever with this simple solution to ease out the unnecessary reminders and bank transfers!
(currently running live on www.exoticindiaart.com and www.peppercloset.com)
Look forward to feedback from the readers and especially from those who group-gift!
Cheers
Rohit
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UPDATE: DEC 1, 2014
As a follow-up, our individual platform is already live – www.mypoolin.com Here you can essentially pool money with your friends and colleagues for the same purposes – gifting together, travelling together or events.
The money can then be redeemed into your bank account or online on our partner sites!
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Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
too much effort for too small a problem?
Rohit Taneja
Nope. This is just the beginning!
We would be extending this concept for other use cases too where sharing money becomes an issue like dinner parties, events and more.
It would be in a slightly different format though the crux is the same – http://www.mypoolin.com
Cheers
Puneet Nirogam Aggarwal
Rohit, I think, in the west, they have Wedding Registries where the host or somebody else can create an event, and asks everybody to pool in. After everybody pays their share for the gift, the registry then sends the payment to the company where the host can buy whatever he likes.
I would say your product is similar to a registry, but I am not sure whether taking the plugin route would really work.
Rohit Taneja
Hi Puneet,
Yup! It is quite similar to a registry. The difference being in the features (like giving people flexibility to decide their shares in cases or registries while pre-defining them for group gifts with fixed costs) and of course the approach (via plugins).
The primary benefit that we have seen for our case is in the adoption. I mean, putting it on our partner e-commerce sites (that already have more than a million customers) gives us a very easy way to reach the customers than spending tons of money for user acquisition (especially considering that people in India are not used to registries due to the culture).
Cheers
Rohit
Rohit Taneja
As a follow-up, our individual platform is already live – http://www.mypoolin.com Here you can essentially pool money with your friends and colleagues for the same purposes – gifting together, travelling together or events.
The money can then be redeemed into your bank account or online on our partner sites!