Ever want to cheer up a friend stressed-out by midterms, but too busy studying for your own midterms to buy them a gift? Ever wish your parents could buy you Berryline from 1,000 miles away?
Well now they can.
You can send your friends/family/loved ones/crushes/randos/enemies/anyone-whose-phone-number-you-know a gift without getting up from your chair at KangoGift.com, a week-old site based in Cambridge.
But enough with the overly promotional verbiage—basically, you log on to KangoGift.com, select what you would like to purchase as a gift, enter the recipient's phone number, pay via credit card, and then the gift-receiver will get a text message that entitles them to whatever you purchased for them from whatever store sells it. Currently at KangoGift.com you can buy gifts for people at Berryline, Daedalus, Trata, Finale, and a local flowershop.
More information on deals this week, including two-for-one Berryline, after the jump.
Through the upcoming parents weekend KangoGift is offering discounts on the normal price of products. You can buy a gift of two small Berryline dishes for the price of one (and you can always have it sent to yourself). Also, entering the promotional code "hparents" gets you 15 percent off purchases through Freshman Parents' Weekend.
“I’m very proud to say that in the US we are the first company to go to market with this specific approach,” said co-founder and owner Todd Horton. “Cambridge is just an awesome spot to launch a company like this.”
Similar companies will be opening in the U.S. soon, predicted Horton, who holds an MBA from Yale. Horton said his company charges the same rates as in stores or lower and gets its cut from participating companies. He also said cell phone numbers would only be used to send the text with the gift code and would not be used for advertising.
It makes the bridge between the virtual and the physical, he said.