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Please provide the competitive landscape for gift-giving services.
Hello! Thanks for your question about gift giving services. The short version is that there are several services, mostly smart phone applications, that serve as reminders for upcoming birthdays and offer gift suggestions. I was unable to find any successful email subscription services as you outlined in your question, but I have detailed similar services in applications and websites. They are not subscriptions, but they do set reminders for birthdays and give gift suggestions.
Please see this spreadsheet for a deep dive into four big service providers in regards to their overview, pricing, competitive advantages, and other notes.
METHODOLOGY
To answer your question and target your stated interest in upper-middle class men shopping for their wives, I focused my research on applications and websites that cater to this clientele and feature birthday and event reminders. I included only those that take a proactive approach to gift giving instead of an apologetic tone. I have also included two big name companies in this write-up, Amazon and Facebook, to add context to the successful business models.
GIFT GIVING SERVICES
Four common and successful gift giving services are detailed on the spreadsheet, and mentioned briefly below. Other applications are detailed as well, and I have included two failed start-ups that had similar ideas to the original question, but did not have the profit margins to be successful.
Amazon Family and Friends Gifting: This service through amazon.com enables users to set up birthday notifications and view connections' wish lists that they have chosen for themselves for gift ideas. It is a partnership with Facebook so that alerts can be set up for birthdays and other events. It is free to sign up. Prices vary depending upon items on wish list.
Facebook Birthdays: This is a notification service through facebook.com that allows users to wish friends and family happy birthday, and give gifts through the website. Gifts can be exchanged by the recipient who will be notified of the gift through their phone or Facebook. Gifts are available from a plethora of retailers though there is limited help in selecting a unique gift.
Spoil: This application takes into account the recipient's unique tastes and characteristics. A dedicated shopper with the company then selects a gift and sends it out. The purchaser does not know what the gift will be until the recipient does. Gifts can be chosen by occasion or sentiment. Prices vary based on tier selected, ranging from $35 to $500.
The Man App: This is an application with the intent of reminding a husband of upcoming birthdays and anniversaries. It provides a countdown and notifications for the event. The app includes gift ideas and "random acts of kindness" suggestions. It is $0.99 to download.
Wantful: This service sought to provide a selection of personally chosen gifts from which the recipient could choose. The gift giver browsed through the company's website to pick 12 different items. A catalogue of these items was then shipped to the recipient who could decide on one. This startup failed due to lack of revenue.
Happywife: This application gave its users, targeted at men, reminds of upcoming birthdays for wives, mothers, and mothers-in-law. It gave personalized suggestions, allowed in app purchases, and had the gifts wrapped and delivered to the door. This service additionally sent the purchaser information about the gift to make it seem more personal when the woman opened it. This start-up failed due to tight profit margins.
Gifttree: This website allows the customer to purchase gift baskets or personalized/engraved gifts, for quick delivery.
Truly: This website is tailored for a female recipient, though they do offer services for men, and aims to provide personalized gifts that are about creating memories, not material clutter.
Gift Share Love: Women choose what clothing or other gifts they want, including size and color selections, and then share with their husbands. The customer selects how much to pay and does not have to worry about selecting the wrong size.
CONCLUSION
While there are no current email subscription gift reminder/curated suggestions as you are considering, there are several applications that seek to fulfill the same market demand. Most focus on either reminding of upcoming birthdays or seek to find unique and personalized gift suggestions. Based on the number of these applications and websites, the consumer market is searching for such services to the point where Amazon and Facebook have options available, which suggests a big demand for this type of service, though each of them serve a slightly different niche of the market.
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