Amazon runs huge product warehouses. In fact, there are now 24 of these massive distribution centers world-wide, stocking everything from CDs to bicycle tires.

The online retailer moves 3-times as much product through these warehouses than it’s next closes competitor.

Over 40% of the products that move through the supply system are sold by merchants other than Amazon itself. There are over 1.3 million suppliers who provide the products that are for sale on Amazon.com and through these other merchants.

When consumers  rank the trusted technology companies for privacy, they usually put Amazon in the top 5.

In 2009 PartyWeDo was looking for an e-commerce partner for the gift party application, AlbinoPhant. The natural choice was Amazon.

Amazon works great for a gift merchandising application because of their massive selection and top-notch customer service.

The gift exchange system uses a level pricing system for each custom AlbinoPhant marketplace. Each host selects the level at which their invitees will spend for the gift and the AlbinoPhant software sorts through the Amazon Warehouse to display products in that pricing category.

PartyWeDo hired the Utah based e-commerce software firm Gyrofly, to build the special interface that would allow each party guest to pay one price and cover the cost of the gift, the shipping and the fun.

The resulting markets are filled with thousands of gifts that can be used to share in the fun of a Yankee Swap or White Elephant Gift Exchange.

When any gift is selected from one of the AlinoPhant markets, it is identified by a unique number. This number allows us to use the image of the gift during the game play period and also ship the correct item from the Amazon warehouse to the correct players doorstep.

This system allows the virtual world of the internet to marry seamlessly with the real world of gift shopping and delivery.

All of these marvelous technologies and efficient shipping systems allow family and friends to purchase gifts, share them online and then receive a present at their home.

Thank you Amazon, for joining the party!

Gary Hayes has created this dynamic chart that demonstrates the real-time growth in social media. Pay attention to the ratio of virtual product sales and the REAL gift sales on Facebook. Then ask yourself 2 questions…

1. Is there room for growth in selling real gifts in social media?
2. Who is moving the real gift sales in social media forward, besides Facebook?

We watched the chart for 60 seconds and determined that over $10,000 was spent on virtual goods in the same time that less than $140 was spent on real gifts in Facebook.

We realize that this is an apples to pears comparison, because virtual goods encompasses all social media channels and Facebook gifts only measures a portion of a small service on one social network. And the chart does not track all of the real products sold by affiliate links from social sites. But it does show an opportunity for growth, especially when you consider that social media is a virtual mimic of real human interaction and that virtual purchasing mimics real-life  purchases.

Here is the thing you might want to consider… If people gather together in these internet social spaces and spend money on virtual things for each other, why wouldn’t they do the same thing for real gifts?

Think about this comparison:

Let’s assume that you sell me a virtual gift at $1 dollar, as a birthday wish for cousin Earl…
The result: You, Earl and I are all somewhat happy with this small gesture.

Now assume that you could sell me a $25 real gift at a 12.5% profit.
The result: Earl gets something real that he can enjoy beyond his computer screen.  I get the satisfaction that comes with providing some true support to Earl.  And you get $3.12 for facilitating the gift-giving.

Now all we need to do is find a fun way to pass out the real gifts in the social networks…. Any ideas?

This Facebook application allows family and friends the opportunity to party together in a virtual gift exchange, just like they would if gathered together in one location. They exchange real gifts, share friendly banter and enjoy the holiday spirit, through the online party.

Gift exchange parties are social events that focus on sharing gifts with family and friends and then “stealing” gifts from one another in an organized party game.

www.albinophant.com brings people together to participate in the party on a common game-play page, where wrapped gifts are displayed, opened, stolen and where comments are shared. This application facilitates gift giving among those who would be sharing gifts with each other anyway. AlbinoPhant just provides a fun, conversational and social way to pass out the gifts.

Traditional white elephant parties build lively conversation and great stories around the gifts as they are opened. With the enhanced sharing tools on the web, the online version allows more expressive conversation than ever before. The AlbinoPhant comment stream allows party participants the opportunity to post YouTube videos and images to assist in making the exchange party a real fun game. There are even opportunities to share some of the conversation outside of the party in other social networks, allowing the party atmosphere to spill over in other corners of the web.

The online white elephant party uses a combination of eCommerce and social networking tools to build the party system. AlbinoPhant is a gift purchasing and sharing facilitator, displaying hundreds of Amazon items in level pricing markets for convenient shopping. The host and each party participant use these single pricing markets ($15 to $50) to select gifts for the party. This leveling feature is used to keep the gift spending closer to equal among all of the players, reducing the “big-spender/cheap-skate” issues.

When all of the gifts are virtually wrapped, opened, discussed, stolen and re-stolen, the game ends. The application’s management system then sorts out who gets which real gift and sees that each present is delivered to the correct address.

The online gift exchange is a labor of love by the Christensen family, who are new to Facebook application development. The Christensen’s have tested the online gift swap party with their scattered family members for several years. They hired a team of Facebook developers and other web professionals to take their simple family party exchange and turn it into a fully operational Facebook application. Now they are eager to share this fun exchange, AlbinoPhant, with others.

This holiday season the networks will play host to thousands of gift thieves and promote friendly banter to liven up holiday parties. What is more social than a lively party?

To see press release go to http://myprgenie.com/3333

This application is a bit more complex than most of the simple social games that are found in Facebook. AlbinoPhant parties involve the sharing of real gifts in a long-term party and therefore integrate eCommerce shopping and secure payment systems into the process.

We want players to realize that after they purchase a gift in one of the AlbinoPhant markets, they wait while others do the same thing. So we felt that a cute and artistic message might make players feel at ease while they wait for the party to begin.

We hired a talented designer from Tuscon, Arizona by the name of Jay Pierstorff. He has created several creative and cleaver images to help players understand the steps in the game play process.

So when a player has used PayPal to purchase their selected gift for the party, and after they virtually wrapped it in some fancy or interesting box, the Armed-Elephant will store it safely in the AlbinoPhant Palace.
The virtual gift box and the image of the gift will be used on the gameplay page during the party. The real gift will actually remain in the control of Amazon, until we know who gets the gift after all the stealing and swapping are finished in the party.

The AlbinoPhant management system will see that all the gifts are sorted out and that all the players get the correct gifts delivered after the game ends.

At the end of the party another fun artistic message will be displayed to remind players that they should be looking for a shipping company to show up with the gift that they won in the party.

We know that family and friends will find AlbinoPhant a fun and easy way to connect and share real gifts together this holiday season.. These humorous images of elephants should assist in making the experience all the more fun.

Your are going to love this party!!!

Hosted on line

McMinnville — The social networks can now be used for friendly larceny, with the launch of an online white elephant gift exchange party called AlbinoPhant.

This Facebook application allows family and friends the opportunity to party together in a virtual gift exchange, just like they would if gathered together in one location. They exchange real gifts, share friendly banter and enjoy the holiday spirit, through the online party.

Gift exchange parties are social events that focus on sharing gifts with family and friends and then “stealing” gifts from one another in an organized party game

AlbinoPhant brings people together to participate in the party on a common game-play page, where wrapped gifts are displayed, opened, stolen and where comments are shared. This application facilitates gift giving among those who would be sharing gifts with each other anyway. AlbinoPhant just provides a fun, conversational and social way to pass out the gifts.

Traditional white elephant parties build lively conversation and great stories around the gifts as they are opened. With the enhanced sharing tools on the web, the online version allows more expressive conversation than ever before. The AlbinoPhant comment stream allows party participants the opportunity to post YouTube videos and images to assist in making the exchange party a real fun game. There are even opportunities to share some of the conversation outside of the party in other social networks, allowing the party atmosphere to spill over in other corners of the web.

The online white elephant party uses a combination of eCommerce and social networking tools to build the party system. AlbinoPhant is a gift purchasing and sharing facilitator, displaying hundreds of Amazon items in level pricing markets for convenient shopping. The host and each party participant use these single pricing markets ($15 to $50) to select gifts for the party. This leveling feature is used to keep the gift spending closer to equal among all of the players, reducing the “big-spender/cheap-skate” issues.

When all of the gifts are virtually wrapped, opened, discussed, stolen and re-stolen, the game ends. The application’s management system then sorts out who gets which real gift and sees that each present is delivered to the correct address.

The online gift exchange is a labor of love by the Christensen family, who are new to Facebook application development. The Christensen’s have tested the online gift swap party with their scattered family members for several years. They hired a team of Facebook developers and other web professionals to take their simple family party exchange and turn it into a fully operational Facebook application. Now they are eager to share this fun exchange, AlbinoPhant, with others.

This holiday season the networks will play host to thousands of gift thieves and promote friendly banter to liven up holiday parties. What is more social than a lively party?

At one time, I wanted our online party application to be considered a social game, but now I am rethinking the association.

From now on, AlbinoPhant is not a social game, but is a Gift Sales Facilitator.

This title is not nearly as catchy as social game, yet it does describes what we do… Maybe we should have an acronym in the title, like GSF party game…

The fact is that we have a great deal of social features in our party game. So we could be considered a social game. There are multiple players joining in a game, and there is a comment stream with shared videos and images on the game play page….   But, we are NOT a game using offer-scams. We are a party game, with REAL gifts to offer. Yes, real gifts that are purchased in eCommerce and shipped directly to each players door.

The stories of these social game scam bother me, and I want no part of the association…

My first introduction to this issue was in an Andrew Chen blog post titled: Are social gaming offers scamming users? A detailed analysis of Techcrunch’s Scamville article.
Andrew’s discussion led me to a link back to the originator of this apparent firestorm, Michael Arrington of Techcrunch. I read Michael’s post and concluded that for sure, don’t want to be called a social game.

This “offers” business seems like a grab for money in an industry that has challenges finding monetizing solutions. Frankly, I am sad to hear that gaming customers are being treated badly and that legitimate advertisers are being drug through the dirt by these negative associations.

So here is how a Gift Sales Facilitator/GSF party game works:

* First, you recognize that people are sharing gifts (real gifts not virtual mumbo jumbo) with each other during the holidays and at events all year long.

* Next, you find the most common party activity that groups use to socialize and share these gifts with each other.

* Finally, you build an application that facilitates the sale of the gifts, and provides a fun way to pass the gifts around in an online party game.

Mix those 3 components into a social network platform and you get a gift sales facilitator on Facebook…

I wish that I could have used the descriptive title of a Social Game. It might be easier to market than breaking new ground. But I choose to distance our White Elephant Party and future products from the mud-slinging, and just pioneer a new category:

I also realize that there is a bunch of money flowing through the Offers model.  But when I look at how many birthday, wedding, graduation and holiday gifts are purchase every year, I say…. Let me facilitate some of that honest and profitable action.

For now just call us a Gift Sales Facilitator or maybe a GSF party game.