About DOUZO

DOUZO came out of the frustration of knowing what gifts we really wanted or needed, but being restricted on how we could share our wishes with friends and family. We had to pick affordable gifts from only one or two major stores, or we had to make an impersonal request for cash. Neither option gave us or our friends the right kind of freedom.

So we decided to make a place where the only limit on the type of gift would be our imagination. A place where friends and family would have choice over what they gave and where there would be something to fit every budget. A place where it would be easy to create a list and easy to buy from a list. It would be easy to see at any time what had been purchased and to know who gave what. That place became DOUZO.

We tested our idea with friends. They found it helped them to get what they wanted and saved them time in coordinating a traditional gift list. We found we could use the list for many different occasions. Weddings and birthdays were obvious choices. But what about baby showers? Christenings? Anniversaries? Christmas? Coming of age ceremonies? Fund-raising? Getting kitted out for a gap year? Or going to college? What about a house warming? Collecting props for a local theatre event? Getting pledges of help for someone in need? So DOUZO grew into what you see today. Now it's your place too. Use it in any way that helps.

Why "DOUZO"?  Our name comes from a Japanese word.  Its exact meaning varies in translation (for example,  here, or here) but it comes across as "please", "help yourself" or "by all means".  We like it and hope it's easy to remember.

DOUZO is based in the South of England but available world-wide, thanks to the power of the Web. We run with a small but perfectly-formed team, who have years of experience of business, technology, and making things easy to use.

What next?

We're looking ahead at how we can make DOUZO even better, with even more flexibility, more ways of getting to your list, more ways of personalising your list, and more links to other popular sites.   Keep in touch to find out what we're up to.  We love to see how you use DOUZO. Tell us what what you want, what you like or what you don't, or check out our stories page to see real-life examples of how DOUZO has been used by our members around the world.