Greggs taps bot tech for gifting initiative

Fetch has developed a gifting bot for Greggs, allowing customers to purchase goods and send to their friends through Facebook Messenger.

James Lodge, Director of Mobile, Fetch Manchester, says: “We spotted an opportunity to go beyond the traditional gift cards and allow consumers to engage in random acts of kindness over the Christmas period. With the proliferation of messenger apps and over 50% of users opening their messenger app at least once a day, it was a no brainer to build the Greggs gifting bot in a place of high engagement to drive scale and virality.”

The offering integrates into Greggs ePOS infrastructure across its 1,854 UK-wide locations. Plans are afoot to put the solution into third party payment platforms such as Apple and Android Pay.

Hannah Squirrell, Customer Director at Greggs, says: “The festive season is all about generosity and giving, and we’ve now made it easier than ever to give the gift of Greggs, so there really is no excuse for a disappointing secret Santa present this year. We’re excited to be the first company to use bot technology for gifting in the UK and we hope our customers get into the spirit of the bot, even after the Christmas period.”