The brothers had no experience in the car industry, having made their money selling plastic cups, plates and gifts for Asian airlines.

ECONOMIST: Industry in eastern Germany

Had they the imagination, in that taupe plastic box they could have seen the death of their entire industry.

FORBES: DEC's Final Demise

While most of the financial activity that now takes place on smartphones involves people engaging in transactions with their bank, the credit-card industry has spent millions of dollars to issue new plastic with the contact-less chip that speeds the check-out process.

WSJ: Google Pursues Role in Mobile Payments

The cost of plastic surgery has not experienced the kind of inflation that has afflicted the rest of the health care industry.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Another formidable competitor is Swatch Group, better known for the cheap plastic watches that helped save Switzerland when the quartz revolution looked as if it would relocate the entire watch industry to the Far East.

FORBES: Time Is Money

Gift cards are a big industry, which is why a number of other start-ups such as gift card marketplaces Cardpool and Plastic Jungle, and Gifi, which has a somewhat similar concept to GiftRocket, have focused on this area.

FORBES: GiftRocket Seeks To Reinvent Gift Cards