Gift cards and Send a Treat, for when you can't be there

A lot of people who order on Laayo are ordering for someone else. A son in Kathmandu sending dinner to his parents in Birtamod. A sister abroad who wants her brother to have cake on his birthday. A team lead in Damak saying thank you to a colleague who stayed late. For a long time the only way to do that was to call someone nearby, read out an address, and send them money for the order.

We built two features for this, and they solve slightly different problems.

Gift cards: let them choose#

A gift card is the right present when you do not know what they want, or when you want them to order on their own time.

You pick a design (Laayo, birthday, thank you, anniversary or get well), choose an amount from रु 1,000 up, type the recipient’s name and their email or mobile number, and add a short message if you like. You pay with E-Payment, right inside the app, using the same QR screen you use for orders.

Once the payment is confirmed, the recipient receives a gift card code and a PIN by email, SMS or both. They open Laayo, go to Gift cards & credits, tap Claim, enter the code and PIN, and the amount lands in their Laayo Wallet. From there it works like any other wallet balance, on food, groceries or a bill at a partner counter.

A few decisions behind that flow:

• The PIN is created only after the payment is confirmed. There is never a valid card waiting for money that has not arrived.
• You, the buyer, never see the PIN. Only the person it was meant for does. If a card is forwarded to the wrong person by mistake, the code alone is not enough to spend it.
• We check the recipient’s details before you pay. An email like “okk” or a mobile number with a digit missing is caught on the form, with a clear message, instead of failing quietly after the QR opens. Nepali mobile numbers work with or without +977 in front.

Send a Treat: you choose, they eat#

Sometimes you do not want to send credit. You want to send the momo from that place on the corner, hot, tonight. That is what Send a Treat is for, and it is rolling out now.

At checkout, turn on Send a Treat. Then:

1. Enter the recipient’s name and mobile number.
2. Drop a pin where they are, on the same map you use for your own address.
3. Add a message and the name it should come from.
4. Decide whether the rider sees your number or only theirs.

The recipient’s pin becomes the delivery address for that order. That one decision does a lot of work: the delivery fee is worked out from their location, the rider calls them and not you, and the handover at the door works exactly like any other order. Nothing about the rider’s side had to change.

When the order is placed, the recipient gets an SMS saying a treat is on its way from you, with a link where they can follow the rider without installing anything. If they already use Laayo, they also get a notification. On your side, the order shows a small Treat banner and a Share tracking button, so you can send the live link on WhatsApp yourself if you prefer.

If you send treats to the same people often, the app remembers your recent recipients. Tap a name and their number and pin are filled in.

What we chose not to do#

• Treats are prepaid only. Cash on delivery for a gift means a rider asking a surprised person for money at their door. So when Send a Treat is on, cash options are hidden and you pay up front with E-Payment or your wallet.
• We did not build a separate gift delivery system. A treat is an ordinary order with a little extra information attached. That keeps tracking, rider calls and support exactly as reliable as they are for every other order.
• Gift cards are not shareable by link. It would be convenient to send the code and PIN on WhatsApp straight from the app, but that means showing the PIN to the buyer. For now we chose the safer path, and we may revisit it.
• Treats are for delivery from a restaurant, for now. Takeaway and prescription orders do not offer it, because the whole point is that someone else receives the food.

What’s next#

We want gifting to feel as easy as ordering for yourself. Send a Treat is rolling out in stages, starting with the latest app version. If you send one, we would love to hear how it landed.