The app enables consumers to use pictures from their iPhones to create low-cost greetings cards that are then printed and sent by imail.
The app is integrated with Facebook so that senders can request postal addresses from intended recipients. The recipient is notified of the request via Facebook and inputs their address without the sender seeing it.
“This is all completely secure, we don’t see your Facebook friends,” added imail commercial director Andy Barber, adding that SWALK operates to the 128bit SSL security standard.
A key unique selling point is SWALK’s low cost he said, enabled by UK Mail’s downstream access and logistics capabilities. Sending one card to "anywhere in the world" costs £2.49 including print and postage, with the lowest bulk-ordering price available £1.98.
Speed of delivery is also key, said Barber, with UK cards delivered in one or two working days and international cards within five days.
As well as offering the app direct to consumers, imail plans to sell it as a white label solution to other brands.
“The obvious people to work with are charities – we’ve already had a lot of interest from that sector,” said Barber, adding that brands can incorporate this into a pre-existing app, and brand as their own if desired.
Imail has invested £40,000-£50,000, including marketing costs, in launching SWALK. “We’ve got high hopes for SWALK, really high hopes. Our forecast is that it’s going to grow exponentially over the next year to the extent that we wouldn’t be surprised if half of our card volume became greetings card volume,” said Barber.
SWALK joins imail’s existing consumer product Postcards from Pete, which enables users to send iPhone pictures, again from anywhere in the world, within 48 hours.
“What our R&D team have tried to do is make a posted item fun, easy to use and with that wow factor. It has that wow factor because of the speed,” said Barber.
Imail is already in talks with several leading mobile phone brands about including the Postcards from Pete app as standard on certain handsets. Barber added that travel companies may also want to integrate this into their own travel apps.
Cards are printed on 300gsm A4 card, which is folded into an A5 card, at one of imail’s Bristol, Birmingham, Livingston or Slough sites, depending on final address. The cards are printed on one of imail’s nine Konica Minolta C8000s.
The company plans to roll the app out for other devices besides iPhones in early 2015.
“SWALK is the next innovation in greetings cards in that you can now send a greetings card to anyone in the world from anywhere in the world without having their postal address,” said Barber.
Imail also prints and posts letters, transactional documents, direct mail, marketing cards and other forms of correspondence for large corporates and SMEs. Launched in 2008 as a rival to Royal Mail's First Class service, it enables users to send documents electronically that are then printed and sent for next day delivery.
