Q & A With Rob Carpenter (CEO of Friendgiftr)

Friendgiftr is a new company with its roots directly traced to social media and social networking, the  inspiration behind it came from the virtual gifting applications in websites like Facebook (where you can use real world money to give friends little images of various things).

It is interesting to see what companies come up with to integrate real world things into the virtual networks and while there may be some vaguely similar things out there, it’s Friendgiftr’s full integration of real world and virtual interaction that makes it stand out.  I recently had the chance to ask Friendgiftr’s CEO Rob Carpenter a few questions (found after the jump).

What originally inspired your idea for Friendgiftr?

Friendgiftr was actually inspired by the very early stage virtual goods phenomenon on Facebook. We realized that users were willing to pay $1 or more on fake cupcakes and smiley faces, and thought to ourselves, “why not allow people to send real goods, too?” The idea then grew from this to incorporate multiple social media sites, mobile devices, and other forthcoming innovative shopping channels.

If you do give someone a gift card, but they may prefer another- are there any options for them?

Absolutely. I’m glad you asked the question. We allow the customer to exchange the gift card given to them or split it across multiple merchants free of charge and without the buyer knowing. It’s a really neat solution so that they giver gives what they want and the receiver gets what they want. It’s a win-win for everybody.

What do you think makes Friendgiftr different from the ’other’ gift card merchants out there?

Friendgiftr is the first e-commerce 2.0 company, meaning we enable people to buy in new contexts and on new platforms. Whether it’s bringing brand name e-commerce to Facebook or to the iPhone, Friendgiftr is transforming the shopping experience in profoundly creative ways. While we know we won’t be the only ones doing this for long, we’re happy to say that we’ve pioneered the social media and mobile e-commerce spaces. We’re also hoping to lead the way in developing many new angles for shoppers to make purchases in the future, too.

What are your goals for Friendgiftr for the future (anything you may like to add to the website, new things in the works, etc)?

We can’t strategically or tactically say where we’re going next, but we can say is that we’re expanding very aggressive both vertically and horizontally, and will have some major announcements that will have some pretty big implications.

Is there anything else you may like to add or say?

E-commerce is changing in real-time, and there will be many new exciting opportunities from many businesses for customers to shop more quickly, conveniently, and securely than ever before. We’re happy to be among the first to help re-define the industry in the new decade, and hope that many more companies join the movement. Shoppers are going to have a lot of really great choices in the coming months and years.

Check Them Out: You can also check out the available apps here: Friendgiftr Apps

You may also enjoy: