Facebook has worked very hard in 2012 to build its social gifting business. It also snapped up a startup called Karma and built what 
became Facebook Gifts, a way for a Facebook user to gift a friend – from bottle of champagne to a online gift voucher. Square, the mobile payment company has added gift cards last year to Square Wallet to help its battle with PayPal.
Middle East has also caught up with the online gifts trend. In Feb 2012 JustGiftIt launched the online card gifting proposition. This was followed by the launch of YouGotAGift.com in March 2013, a similar gift card concept that offers gift cards for sale online.
YouGotAGift is owned by Honyeybee Tech Ventures, a technology incubator founded by the same team that built Laimoon.com, RoundMenu.com and Zawya.com.
JustGiftIt offers complimentary and paid gift cards from a selection of brands. Some of the the brands that are currently listed on the website are Al Jaber Optical, Mumzworld and Namshi. Users can either gift through the website or through the JustGiftIt mobile app. Gifting takes just three clicks – select a Facebook friend, a gift, and purchase- and the digital gift card is quickly delivered and ready to be used. The website also offersgroup gifting.
On the YouGotAGift website you don’t require login via facebook and you can go through the journey of buying the vouchers without even logging. The website also allows users can to customize cards to be printed and deliver them in person, for a birthday or event.
The site currently offers 22 major brands or retail stores like Virgin Megastore, Boutique 1, iSTYLE, and VOX Cinemas. One of the main advantages of using the site is enabling cross-border gifting. The site currently offers 22 major brands or retail stores like Virgin Megastore, Boutique 1, S*uce, iSTYLE, and VOX Cinemas. This website is yet to launch the group gifting model.
Both the websites have launched out of the UAE; the race is on to see who grabs the up market share the fastest.
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[…] YouGotAGift.com: an online marketplace specializing in gift cards throughout the MENA. Customers can purchase gift cards using web and mobile devices, to be delivered through email, Facebook, or mobile. […]