Founded in April 2013,
CashKaro.com is India’s largest Cashback & Coupons site. It is a one stop destination for savings on all online shopping enabling our members to
a) Compare prices and discover products across top shopping sites like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Shopclues, Jabong & 1000 more
b) Earn up to 30% Extra Cashback when they shop at these sites via CashKaro, and
c) Get free coupons across 1000+ sites which overall helps users save thousands of Rupees on their online shopping.
CashKaro receives commission from retailers from which it pays Cashback. This Cashback can be paid to users’ bank accounts as REAL CASH or can be redeemed as Gift Vouchers.
This is how CashKaro works for a user- a. Create an account with CashKaro.com.
b. Choose the retailer you want to shop at from the wide choice of retailers given on Cashkaro.com or chose the section of your choice (fashion, mobile, travel, electronics, books, restaurants, etc).
c. Once you click out of the retailer’s page through CashKaro.com you will be redirected to the retailer website.
d. Shop as normal and cashback will automatically get added to your CashKaro account
You can Redeem this CashBack in two ways:a. CashKaro can NEFT it to you, directly to your account.
b. CashKaro can give you Amazon Gift vouchers for the same.
Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder, CashKaro.com in conversation with Chahat Jain talks about CashKaro.com. Watch out the above video to know more about CashKaro's present status and future plans.How was CashKaro started?After graduating from London School of Economics (LSE), I was offered a full time job at Goldman Sachs. I worked there for about 5 years, but there was always a part of me that wanted more. I wanted to start something of my own. On the other hand, Rohan, my Husband and Co-Founder of CashKaro spent over 8 years in the hedge fund industry in London after graduating from the London School of Economics with a BSc. in Economics. Rohan was last a Portfolio Manager at Aladdin Capital, overseeing a portfolio of $1 billion structured credit assets.
In 2011, Rohan and I decided to quit our jobs and put all our energy into our Cashback business idea. We conducted thorough research in the field of Cashback as we saw a lot of potential in that area. That is how, with a lot of hard work and a little luck, we started Pouring Pounds in UK in 2011. While the business was booming in UK, we realized that the E-commerce industry was thriving in India as well. It seemed like the perfect time to introduce the Cashback concept in India. So, in 2013, we decided to enter the Indian market and thus, CashKaro was born!
Unique key feature/services:Indian online shopper has grown smarter over the years and 80% of online shoppers typically explore various comparison sites before making a transaction and 90% of them look for coupons & cashback option to supplement their purchase. CashKaro acts as a singular platform where online shoppers can 'Search Product, Compare Prices and Earn DOUBLE benefit of Cashback + Coupons. Our unique feature is the EXTRA CASHBACK that CashKaro offers, making our value proposition the best for customers. Here, Cashback is always paid over and above coupons, ongoing discounts and all other deals offered by retailers. Our “Cash in Bank” model has additionally favoured and accelerated our growth where users can transfer their Cashback into their bank account since its Real Cash or can redeem as Gift Vouchers.
How is CashKaro different from existing ones?Our first mover advantage has helped us stay far ahead in this game. We are the largest and the only VC funded cashback site in India so that has helped us remain at the top and grow at 30-40% per month. What gives CashKaro an edge over Coupon-only sites is the added “cashback” element that a CashKaro member can earn. While coupon-only sites provide coupons to their members, CashKaro provides the same coupons too but with additional Cashback on top! This makes the savings from CashKaro more than double compared to Coupon-only sites as now members can get both Cashback and coupons in one place. We believe that once you shop through CashKaro you will never shop at a coupon site again. Also, time and again we have introduced new features which enhance user experience and this has strengthened our market leader position. We have also added Product Discovery & Price Comparison feature which empower users to compare various Cashback offers and Coupons at product level, thereby making an informed buying decision across sites.
Funding status CashKaro has raised close to $5 million till date; of which $750,000 was raised in an angel round in 2013 from a group of investors based in London who belong to companies like Paypal, Investec, Goldman Sachs etc. Further, in November 2015, $3.8 million was raised in Series A funding from Kalaari Capital, one of India’s leading venture capital firms. Recently, Tata Sons’ Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has also invested in the company in his personal capacity.
Monetization model CashKaro works on an affiliate model wherein we earn commission for every sale/transaction we drive to any retailer partner by promoting its product, offers etc. A large part of this commission is then shared with our members as Cashback. Since CashKaro works on a performance driven model, retailers recognizes Affiliate Marketing as a high ROI channel at reduced customer acquisition cost in comparison to other marketing spends –retailers only need to pay us commission when we drive a sale.
Traction details1. Broad Brand Base - Over 1000+ retailers listed giving online shoppers a wide range of choices
2. CashKaro.com drives over 10,000 transactions a day and has so far enabled over Rs 1000 crores GMV till date.
3. Expects to cross Rs 1,000 crores in GMV in the next year alone and credit more than Rs 45 crores as Cashback
4. We’ve already paid over Rs 35 crores Cashback to its users
5. Enjoy a database of a million users and process over Rs 100 Crores of orders a month with over 7 million page views every month
Future plans Our vision for CashKaro is to become the Google for online savings by offering all kinds of Cashback, discounts, offers and Coupons. Our aim is to create a singular platform which is the best way for anyone to shop online, which delivers convenience of price comparison & product wise sorting and provides best deals all in one place. We are also working on extensions and derivatives of our mobile initiatives including launching the CashKaro app. We’ll continue to work in parallel to grow the recently launched product comparison ecosystem while creating more partnerships with various other online businesses to build great synergies. We are also planning to expand to South East Asia in the next two years.
Challenges faced When Rohan & I started out, only coupon sites existed in India. We had to ensure that our Cashback concept was understood by partnering e-retailers and customers both. Building partnerships with e-retailers took us roughly 6 months before we started out. A lot had to be put in processes to ensure retailers paid commission on time and play fair, so that customers get paid on time. Another big challenge that we faced was in putting together a strong team. Rohan and I understood the importance of hiring people with the right frame of mind. We needed people who shared our passion and enthusiasm. We took utmost care of this fact and built a solid team.
Even with all the roadblocks in our way, we knew that perseverance is the key to achieving great things in life.
Market size & opportunity Going by recent reports, Cashback industry is growing at the rate of 62.9% with around 7.6 million unique users getting added every month and accounts for a whopping 15-20% of total sales in the e-commerce sector. Indian e-commerce is projected to reach $100 billion by 2020. Affiliate marketing would account for about 20% of these sales, making the market size for CashKaro about $20 billion.
Globally Affiliate Marketing has stood the test of time and there are examples of very successful businesses in this space. Ebates.com, largest US Cashback site was acquired by Rakuten for $1 Billion. Fanli.com, largest Chinese Cashback site recently raised investment at $1 Billon valuation. Others like Shopping.com, Coupons.com, RetailMeNot have also joined the unicorn club. In a price sensitive market like India the love for deals and discounts is here to stay. Given the unit metrics of Affiliate Marketing, this marketing channel will continue growing. Increasingly more and more investors are also looking at this space as a great way to get exposure to Indian eCommerce. Mr Ratan Tata’s recent investment into CashKaro.com was the first for the Affiliate Marketing industry, and we are confident this is just one of the many fabulous firsts to come in this space!
