For Immediate Release:
  NEW PERSONALIZED INTERNET RESOURCE LAUNCHES GIFT GIVING RENAISSANCE-GIFTME.COM WEB-SITE RESTORES FUN TO ART OF GIFT GIVING
   
  NEW YORK, NY - September 15, 1999 - Stressful, confusing and time-consuming are all sentiments long associated with shopping for gifts. GiftMe.com, an Internet-based gift giving "virtual personal assistant," is detaching these labels from the gift giving experience. Launched today, GiftMe.com offers consumers access to personalized gift suggestions and gift registries, manages shopping lists and budgets, and establishes interactive gift giving communities, promising the rebirth of pleasure in giving and receiving presents.
   
  The average consumer faces 12 gift giving occasions every year. This means 12 times a year most consumers struggle with the question, "What do I give?" eCommerce has provided consumers with the answer to "How can I buy it?," but the question still remains - "What do I give?" Add to that question the vast array of information available on the Internet. There are tens of thousands of vendors and retailers competing for a shopper's money, creating a new dilemma - "Where can I find it and whom should I buy it from?"
   
  "GiftMe.com wants to make everyone's gift giving experience what it should be - fun. It is our mission - to help consumers cut through the confusion and frustration to have an enjoyable and easy gift giving experience, while ensuring they give and receive perfect gifts," said Simon Poon, chief executive of GiftMe.com. Giving Great Gifts Based upon the occasion and the recipient's personal profile entered by the buyer, GiftMe.com generates a list of appropriate gift ideas, which can be refined with the addition or deletion of search terms.
   
  Once a gift has been selected from the product database compiled from recommendations by GiftMe.com's gift experts and user community, GiftMe.com suggests places to purchase the gift, minimizing the amount of legwork the consumer needs to do. "I was extremely pleased by the size of GiftMe.com's gift database and their ability to tailor gift ideas to the personal profiles I entered," said Natasha Mal, a 25-year old art director who participated in test marketing of the web-site.
   
  Getting Great Gifts Registering in a store limits consumers to only the items that particular store carries. The GiftMe.com registry allows consumers to create a comprehensive list of gift requests, regardless of where the gifts can be purchased. Once the registry has been created, GiftMe.com sends an email to a list of people provided by the consumer, inviting them to view the consumer's gift registry. As with traditional registries, once someone decides to purchase an item on a registry, the item is marked to avoid duplicate gifts. Additionally, using the gift recommendation engine, consumers can fill their registry with items GiftMe.com suggests according to their personal profile.
   
  "Bridal and baby registries are common vehicles to help people celebrate these important life milestones, but the gift registry concept, in general, has not spread out to other special occasions," stated Mr. Poon. "Computer and Internet technology now makes it easy to create and maintain registries for all occasions, including birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, Valentine's day and Christmas. Using GiftMe.com will help you finally get what you want for these occasions," he added.
   
  Exchanging Great Gift Ideas Consumers can log onto forums and talk to other gift givers, receivers or the GiftMe.com gift experts. The forums enable the GiftMe.com community to exchange gift ideas, experiences and advice, and to get the pulse on hot new products.
   
  GiftMe.com, Inc., based in New York City, is a young, energetic company offering innovative online gifting services. GiftMe.com makes gift recommendations, provides consumers with an interactive forum to discuss gift suggestions and individual products, and enables consumers to purchase products directly from the Web site.
   
  Founded in July of 1999, GiftMe.com is the ultimate one-stop gifting destination. GiftMe.com can be accessed online at http://www.giftme.com. The full set of services and features of GiftMe.com will be released by Christmas 1999.
   
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