Need a Small Gift for Someone Special? Send a Yiftee

You need a Christmas gift for your favorite teacher. It’s your boss’s birthday. Your best friend just lost her pet. Or your neighbor did you a huge favor.

Why not acknowledge life’s moments like these with just a little bit more than an e-mail, card or Facebook post?

Well, now you can. An easy, new way to send a thoughtful small gift to someone special from a local business has come to Pacifica.

It’s called Yiftee, an iPhone app and Internet service that lets Pacificans send small real gifts — mostly under $20 — like a latte, glass of wine, frozen yogurt, manicure, rose or boutique item that the recipients pick up at a favorite local café, restaurant, shop, boutique or florist.

“It’s very easy and that’s the whole idea. It’s a win-win-win for gift-giver, gift-receiver, and merchant,” said Lori Laub, Yiftee co-founder.

So far Yiftee has partnered with Mazzetti’s Bakery, A Grape In The Fog, AnnaBee’s Doggie Boutique & Café and Ressurected Boutique to launch Yiftee in Pacifica.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with and we look forward to growing with them and welcoming more local merchants,” said Laub.

It takes just two minutes to thank a friend for a favor, using the Yiftee iPhone app on the go or Yiftee.com. Your friend gets a code that he/she brings to the store to pick up your gift, which is redeemed in seconds.

For example, they can send a cheese plate from A Grape In The Fog, a kuchen coffeecake from Mazzetti’s Bakery, a dog café entre from AnnaBee’s Doggie Boutique & Café or a pair of lace earrings from Ressurected  — to name just a few.

 “Yiftee is easy to set up. Micro gifts — a novel concept, is a perfect fit with my customer base,” said Beth Lemke, owner of A Grape In The Fog.

Unredeemed gifts are credited back to the giver’s Yiftee account who can then give another gift. Any merchant can sell Yiftees by signing up on Yiftee.com or contacting Eliza Gray at eliza@yiftee.com.

For merchants, Yiftee sells more products, drives foot traffic into the store and delivers free visibility on mobile and social media.

So far, Julie Love, owner of Ressurected, likes the idea:

"What’s wonderful about the concept is that, in this busy time in our lives, Yiftee makes it easy to say ‘thank you’ or ‘I care about you.'"

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