CityBump is a loyalty platform that rewards users with CityBump points each time they visit or transact at any of the partner brands. CityBump points can then be redeemed to purchase Vouchers, Special Menus, Activities or Tickets from any of the brands in the future.
Brands can use any combination of the solutions offered :1. Check-In : Users receive CityBump points for making a Check-In at any of the brand locations. In order to Check-In the users must scan the CityBump QR codes placed at the Brand locations, where the user’s location is also checked as an added security feature. Brands can then send these users current promotions and new brand offerings at the time of a Check-In. This allows brands to increase their footfall, run limited time promotions, and know their regular customers.
2. Cashback : Users can upload a photo of their bill after payment and receive 5-15% of their total bill value back in CityBump points. This allows brands to understand what each customer is ordering, and better target them in the future.
3. Purchases : Brands can list Vouchers and Tickets for sale on the platform. They can sell Fixed Menus, Event tickets, or Services. Users can either pay using Online channels or Redeem their CityBump points in place of real money. This allows brands to retarget their customers a few weeks after their visit and provide them with the right offerings. It also allows Brands to sell out limited time products and inventory.
4. E-Commerce : Users are redirected to the brand websites with Special Coupon codes listed on CityBump. The link is tracked to measure customer purchases and transactions. This helps brands to increase visitors to their own website.
CityBump works on a commission Model charging its Partner brands 10-25% of the total sale value for each transaction. It also provides Value Added Services such as running Marketing Campaigns (SMS, Email, Offline, BTL), Digital Marketing (Social Media, PPC) and Data Mining at additional costs.
BW Disrupt interacts with Pranav Kanwar, Founder, CityBump and spoke to him
Competition & DifferentiationOther loyalty platforms are brand specific and therefore have limitations in the number of times a user would visit that particular brand, and thus use their loyalty platform. However on CityBump by allowing users to use it across multiple brands and locations, it increase the stickiness and utility of the product. We are also the only loyalty platform to provide Brands with different options for rewarding their customers. They can use all or a combination of the services : Check-In, Cashback, Purchases, or E-commerce. Other loyalty platforms only focus on one particular service and thus cannot be used by a large variety of brands.
Funding Raised & MonetizationCityBump has been bootstrapped so far, with no external funding. The founder has invested his previous savings into the company and has thus it has grown slowly over the past year.
We are starting to generate revenue since Feb 2017, and are charging our Business Partners 10-25% commission for each transaction. Our order sizes vary from Rs 500 all the way upto Rs 2000.
Traction NumbersWe ran an Alpha test of a basic version of Android application for 3 months, and we received a great response from the consumers. We had over 35,000 app downloads and over 1000 conversions a month. However we believed the product needed to be enhanced and technology needed to be improved before going live and spent a year after that further improving the product.
The final product was launched in Mid-Feb 2017.
ExpansionOur focus is currently on building the user base and brand in Mumbai over the 3 months. We are targeting 30,000 Monthly active users after which we will expand to other Metro cities in India such as Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. We are targeting towards 100,000 monthly active users by Dec 2017.
Biggest learnings so farThe biggest learning for me has been with my personality as a single founder. Learning how to constantly motivate your team and have them work as hard as you do. Each person has their own personality, strengths and weaknesses and thus you need to understand each individual separately and encourage them to grow.
This allows employees to grow not only professionally but also personally at CityBump, and keeps them constantly engaged at work.
Market OpportunityIndia has the largest number of SME brands worldwide, with a majority run by a single owner. These SME's do not have the time, resources or knowledge to implement and build their own technology and marketing solutions to enhance their business.
We would like to work with all of these brands in the Top 5-7 cities of India, and also internationally in countries such as UAE and Singapore.
We are also targeting the urban youth market of India 18-35 years old with our mobile app and website. These are college students and young professionals who tend to spend all their disposable income on their lifestyle such as food, drinks, entertainment, shopping and travel.
Currently the market stands at 50 million people in the top 5 cities in India and this number will grow to 100 million over the next 3 years.
The total spend in India on such products currently stands at approximately $2 billion and will balloon to $10 billion by 2020 with a handful of players capturing this huge increase.
