Finding a gift with AI: how Hieper's gift finder works

Finding a gift sounds simple, but in practice most people still stand in the shop or scroll bol.com a few days before the birthday with an empty head. You know the person loves cooking, but the first 200 search results are generic gift cards, chunks of testosterone gadgets and top 10 lists from 2019.

That's why Hieper now has a gift finder. No generic chatbot, no ads, but a short set of questions that takes into account what you know about the birthday person, and then returns real products that fit. Below we explain why finding a gift is so hard, and how Hieper's gift finder tackles that.

Why finding a gift stays hard

People keep getting stuck on the same few obstacles. Not because they don't care, but because the way we search for gifts doesn't think along.

• You know the taste, but not the details. You know aunt Els loves gardening, but not whether she already owns pruning shears.
• Online search results are made for yourself, not for someone else. Filters for age, occasion or relationship are missing.
• Lists like 'top 10 gifts for men in their forties' are too general to fit one specific person.
• You often don't know what others are planning to give, which leads to duplicates.
• You start too late and fall back on a gift card because nothing else arrives in time.

What a good AI gift finder should do

AI isn't new anymore, but for gifts it only pays off when it watches four things at once.

How the Hieper gift finder works

The gift finder shows up in several places in the app: on a birthday in the year agenda, on a party, on a wishlist and on the gift ideas page. It always works the same way: you give a bit of context in a few taps, Hieper combines that with what you've already noted about the birthday person, and then returns a handful of fitting gift ideas with real product links.

• You say who it's for, or Hieper pulls that from the contact in your Circle.
• You give the occasion: birthday, anniversary, baby shower, Mother's Day, Sinterklaas.
• You pick a budget range, so you don't get ideas that bust your wallet.
• You can add extra hints, such as interests, hobbies or things the person really doesn't enjoy.
• Hieper then shows a short list with product image, price and a short note on why it fits.

What Hieper brings in without you typing it

This is the difference between a one off chatbot and a gift finder that lives inside your birthday app. Hieper's gift finder uses what the Circle already knows:

• The age the birthday person will turn on the day, so a gift for a 7 year old isn't suggested for a 17 year old.
• The wishlist, so it doesn't suggest things already on the list or already reserved.
• Previous gift ideas you've saved for that person, so repeats are avoided.
• The type of relationship: colleague, child, partner or neighbour, because 'age 40, loves cooking' leads to different gifts in each case.

When the gift finder is most useful

• A birthday that suddenly looms and you have no idea what to give.
• A group gift where you want to see up front what's possible in the chosen budget.
• A holiday like Mother's Day, Father's Day or Valentine's, where you want something more personal than a standard set.
• A wishlist for yourself, because you know what you like but don't have time to search.
• Sinterklaas for the whole family, where you need ideas for four different ages in one evening.

What the gift finder deliberately doesn't do

A few things are left out on purpose, because they would make it worse instead of better.

• No endless chat dialogue. You get suggestions, not homework.
• No hidden ad deals. Product links go to bol.com, without any brand being pushed up.
• No tracking profile of the birthday person. Hieper only uses what you or your Circle entered.
• No AI text that pretends the birthday person said something specific. Only ideas, no invented quotes.

Finding a gift for yourself: it works the other way around too

If you struggle to fill in your own wishlist, you can also point the gift finder at yourself. Give your own interests, your budget range and the occasion (birthday, anniversary, wedding), and you get gift ideas you can add to your own wishlist in one tap. Family shares the list, and you're done with the endless 'what do you want?' question.