New online greetings cards firm Whamoosh wants to take on Moonpig
A CHESHIRE company is using technology developed by university researchers to help it take on the giants of the personalised greetings card industry.
The directors of Daresbury-based Whamoosh! launched their new website six weeks ago, and say they want to claim a quarter of the personalised greetings card market within four years.
The company uses facial recognition software originally developed by researchers from the University of Manchester. When users upload pictures, the software automatically scans faces and can then use them to create bespoke greetings cards.
Whamoosh! co-founder John Bickley says the technology is more advanced than that used by market leader Moonpig - but says his young firm now has to battle against the might of Moonpig's publicity machine.
Mr Bickley says the greetings card market in the UK is worth around £1.5bn, of which around 1% is sold online. He says the online market is sure to grow still further, and that he is confident Whamoosh! can battle back against Moonpig's domination of the market.
He said: "Moonpig turned over more than £20m last year. It generated £6.7m profit. There's a lot of margin in this business.
"It's a very good business from a cashflow point of view. We don't manufacture anything until you buy it.
"We believe we have an offering that is better than Moonpig. Our challenge, coming from a standing start, is one of awareness - it's the challenge all internet businesses face."
Whamoosh! parent Spotlight Cards was founded by Mr Bickley and Alan Oliver. The website went live in October.
Mr Oliver founded Liverpool greetings card firm Kamrok and saw it grow into an industry leader, turning over £3m and supplying chains such as Clinton Cards, before he sold it in 2006.
Mr Bickley is a former senior executive at video game developers Psygnosis and SonyPlayStation. He led the technology company Genemation, which was based at Liverpool Science Park but is now based alongside Whamoosh!, in Daresbury, that developed FaceTec software.
Mr Bickley, who leads a team of four at Whamoosh!, said: "Alan is a mate of mine and this came about from us talking about how we would like to build a business together.
"I was approached by Moonpig last year and nearly licensed the technology to them. We were also approached by other personalisation companies.
"But he took the view that with his background in greetings cards and my background in intellectual property and technology, we should do it ourselves."
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Alistair Houghton
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I have used Whamoosh on a number of occasions. The unique facial recognition software that Whamoosh uses allows you to upload your captured images onto a variety of different card designs allowing you to create a frighteningly realistic personal persona upon the cards of your choice. For the privilege of having access to the Whamoosh technology you are not paying anything more for your greetings cards than if you where shopping at moonpig, funkypigeon, gettingpersonal, zazzle or any of the main high street retailers who stock personal greetings cards. The Whamoosh technology is astonishing.There is nothing. Absolutely nothing like the Whamoosh card personalisation software in the personalised gift market!!!
I chanced across this website just the other day. Unlike moonpig, hallmark, clintons and other greetings cards companies Whamoosh is yet to be covered by TV, radio or other major media advertisement. I was simply amazed by their product. A totally unique image upload tool to the personalised gift place market that allows you to embed the personal images of your choice onto a range of different cards. Whether the image is part body and head or a head shot alone it can be made into a unique individual persona by the 'Face It' technology. The whole process of designing up unique personal greetings cards is made very simple by the Whamoosh service. Whamoosh have taken things one step further in the personalised greetings card industry, far beyond what any other competitor is offering!*!*!