We Speak to Ben Corrigan, Co-founder and Marketing Director of Pouch to find out more.
Pouch is a free browser application to present users with the best voucher code available, what was the need behind launching this tool?
As a consumer, it is simply too hard and frustrating to find and redeem valid voucher codes when shopping online. The whole experience is very fractured. For retailers, Pouch satisfies several needs. Retailers spend millions of pounds driving users to their websites, and millions more optimizing those sites for conversions, yet 75 per cent of users abandon the checkout page. One of the most common causes of this is due to users leaving to search for voucher codes. Thanks to Pouch, retailers no longer need to rescind control of their user journey; the user stays on the website and enjoys a seamless experience, while retailers see a direct increase in sales.
How does the Pouch platform work with voucher code sites and advertisers?
Pouch does not currently work in collaboration with voucher code websites. In fact, once a user downloads Pouch, they should hopefully have very little reason to visit another voucher code website again. We currently access our voucher codes through Network APIs and exclusive offers negotiated with the advertiser.
As a browser extension/plug-in, we have uniquely extensive access to anonymised user data which allows us to analyse shopping and browsing behaviour across entire user journeys (because we sit directly in the user’s browser, rather than as a script/tag solution within a retailer’s website). This basically gives us a bird’s eye view of each individuals experience online.
Therefore, being intelligent with our collection and use of data is core to our entire value proposition for both users and the brands that we work alongside. By speaking with key retailers/advertisers and understanding their specific commercial objectives and KPIs, we can negotiate exclusive voucher codes/discounts on behalf our users in very targeted circumstances. We utilise a multitude of datapoints when targeting our users with exclusively negotiated voucher codes, ranging from generic parameters such as ‘device’ and ‘geo-location’, to more sophisticated criteria such as ‘the value of a user’s shopping basket’ and their ‘propensity to purchase’.
This has allowed Pouch to scale during this growth phase, and provide a better service to our users as well as allow our retailers to remain diligent about their margins whilst decreasing shopping cart abandonment and increase conversion rates.
Do you have plans to offer the tool on all browsers?
Yes. We are currently available on Google Chrome, but are waiting for approval on Firefox. We expect to launch Pouch on Firefox before the end of February. This will give us access to another 25% of desktop shoppers who exclusively user the Firefox browser.
The next browser after Firefox that Pouch will launch on will be Safari.
How are you looking to grow Pouch further through Awin?
Awin is key to Pouch’s growth because of it’s size, and the quality of top-tier retailers that it services. Additionally, because of it’s integration with Zanox Group, it represents a great partnership for our plans to expand into Western Europe.
As a very new publisher working in a slightly contentious space (voucher codes, cash back, plug-ins etc can sometimes be a bit complicated to navigate), we have been really uplifted by the adoption rates from Awin Merchants and Account Managers so far. Our initial objectives are to work with as many retailers as possible, and to run some very innovative and well targeted campaigns utilising the enormous amount of anonymised data we have access to, as well as promoting retailer offers through more traditional routes such as email and our social channels.
We have lots of exciting new features we are going to roll out in the coming months, especially our mobile solution which looks like it could be game-changing for Merchants. Through close collaboration with Awin, and some out-of-the-box thinking, our aim is to be one of the most important publishers on the Network by the end of 2017.
With activity across mobile devices growing, how are you adapting your strategy around this trend?
Whilst mobile is certainly very high on our agenda, we are focusing on perfecting our desktop proposition first. Whilst mobile is seeing the lion share in overall growth in online spend in the UK, desktop is also still a growing channel and is the largest for most verticals.
We have produced a couple of prototypes for a Pouch mobile proposition on IOS, which are showing some great promise. We want to speak more closely with retailers about their pain points so that we can build something great. We expect to launch our mobile solution in Q4.
Whilst we solidify our business around browser extensions, we are exploring and prototyping using various channels like Chat bots, Voicebots and Mobile apps to leverage the data we currently hav
What may we not know about Pouch?
We launched on September 1st 2016 and have already received our first round of investment. We are going to open up an even larger round in May to help maintain our forecasted growth. We were named as one of the top 20 start-ups by one of Europe’s largest accelerator programmes MassChallenge, and have been featured in Forbes, Metro, The Daily Mirror, The Telegraph and more.
Our overarching aim is to be the indispensable tool for shopping online. We are uniquely placed to interact with our users at multiple touch points throughout their buying journeys. In addition, as a browser extension, we have unbridled access to highly relevant data that we can leverage on behalf of our users to negotiate targeted deals and promotions from retailers. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality over the next few years, we are excited to help drive the new wave of machine learning in the retail/commerce sector.
We are based in the Tobacco Docks in Shadwell, very close to Awin!
To discuss opportunites email Ben or find out more about the programme here.
