The virtual goods market is growing in popularity. The market for virtual goods is estimated to be five billion dollars in Asia. The growing United States market for virtual goods is expected to meet or exceed the Asian market. Virtual goods are available through social media services, such as, web-based games and social networking websites. Examples of social media services include Neopets® brand virtual pet community, Webkinz™ brand stuffed toys and virtual children's world, and Facebook® brand social networking website.
Users of social media services have an account with the social media service and each user may be identified by a user name and/or representative image. Users can typically purchase virtual goods, such as, in-game items, gadgets, or images via micro-payments (i.e., financial transactions involving small sums of money). These virtual goods may be purchased by a user for themselves, and/or a user may purchase these virtual goods for other users as gifts.
Currently, virtual goods typically are given as gifts to other people via electronic means provided by the social media service, or occasionally via gift cards that include codes that can be redeemed for virtual currency or items. However, many people would prefer to give gifts of a physical nature instead of virtual gifts, since virtual gifts are provided in an intangible form, and intangible gifts may not be considered a “real” gift. Thus, there is a need to bridge the gap between virtual and physical goods by providing personalized physical gifts having virtual goods associated therewith.