Cashback site Quidco is promoting the latest version of its mobile app among retailers after seeing a 610% increase in downloads and over 257,000 check-ins since its relaunch late last month.
Quidco aims to put mobile at the centre of its growth strategy having swelled its total mobile app user base, to 390,000, having experienced nearly 40,000 downloads within the last three weeks alone.
The app lets participating retailers send vouchers to users and displays cashback amounts from 70 retailers, so retailers can pay visitors for entry in to a store and ‘checking in.’ This cash incentive is then paid into the Quidco user’s account once they purchase at that store, which is then transferred into a bank or PayPal account
Quidco users who share their in-store check-ins via their social network are also offered enhanced incentives according to Andreas Andreou, Quidco’s mobile sales director.
Andreou told new media age how the app’s push-notifications feature lets retailers enhance their footfall by using its GPS function to send details of their offers when they are in stores close to their own.
For instance, the when a user checks in to a participating store, fellow participants nearby can also alert users to their offers via the app. “One of the key benefits for retailers is boosting footfall by getting you offers in competitors’ stores,” said Andreou.
As an additional incentive for retailers to participate in its mobile scheme, Quidco is also offering analytics data to demonstrate how users are making use of the service and help track actual conversions.
He also said the the relaunch of the app was part of the company’s bid to swell its user base and was keen to point out that such as proposition was also proving attractive to affluent users, not just bargain basement hunters.
Quoting statistics since the app’s relaunch, Andreou also said that demand from iPhone users soared by 610% in the initial aftermath of its relaunch.
Last week, creative agency Iris Worldwide hosted a retail-focused event where its chairman and IPA director general Paul Bainsfair said that in the age of ecommerce, shoppers are increasingly “interrogate the value they’re getting in return for their time,” particularly in austere times.
“One way of dealing with this is by making bricks and mortar stores ‘destination venues’ to bring the joy of shopping back to the experience. By including services like in-store Wi-Fi you can be dynamic and find that shoppers might not scram after scanning items,” he added (nma.co.uk 11 Jul 2012).
