In the business world, when your company reaches the unicorn status, rejoice! This means that you have reached a market value of $1 billion, which is determined most of the time by either public or private investments.
If you are someone from Denver, USA, and a self-confessed online shopping aficionado, you can have your mini-celebration. Your state has just gotten itself its first billionaire company and, as if you are an Ibotta member, this means more promising deals to look forward to.
But how can a seemingly very simple cashback online shopping company be that big? What did it do differently compared to other equally popular companies with the same niche? Below are some of the business lessons you can learn from Denver’s first unicorn.
Reward People To Sign-Up
A lot of businesses that thrive in memberships spend a lot of online and offline marketing to boost traffic to their websites and to let their products and services known. Ibotta’s strategy is simple. Reward ‘em to get ‘em.
Unlike other cashback websites that you can only see the deals after signing up, Ibotta is more transparent in the sense that randomly scrolling through its website to find excellent deals is possible even if you are not a member yet. You can even get a $10 bonus just for signing up. You can read a full review here.
Do It On Mobile
If your business relies on your website alone, then it’s time to up your game and do an upgrade. This is because just about every online shoppers on the planet use mobile phones for their transactions. By going mobile, you don’t have to needlessly miss a transaction just because a shopper is on the go.
Being a mobile technology company, Ibotta took this advantage to create a mobile application, which also utilizes cloud services, and it has already been downloaded by more than 30 million users to date. Since then, it had generated a revenue of a whopping $157 in 2018.
Target What People Need Best and Go All Out
The secret to a successful business is keeping your customers happy and satisfied. The first way to accomplish this is by understanding what matters most to them.
Ibotta is said to be for the frugal people as it often offers great deals even with the cheap stuff that everyone is after. Even the smallest grocery items that you purchase in the supermarket get small rebates. Of course, if you do shop grocery stuff every so often, these small rebates turn into some significant amount, right?
Besides, it’s better than nothing. Nevertheless, it also offers different deals across all the other popular brands — more on this below.
Partner With The Best Retailers
No man is an island, and this is also applicable in business. Even the biggest names in the business world need another company to work with to be more successful. Think of GoPro and Redbull, BMW and Louis Vuitton, Taco Bell and Doritos, Starbucks, and Spotify, among others.
Ibotta has its own partner merchants, roughly reaching a total of 350, which include retail giants like Walmart, Walgreens, and Kroger, and apparel like Lacoste, Nike, and Puma, and many more.
Go Heavy on Coupons
Ibotta knows how shoppers go gaga over coupons, and that’s where it gave its all. Only that, instead of requiring shoppers to present the paper form in person, it took advantage of the technology by allowing them to just upload the receipt to claim the rebate.
For this, Ibotta has over 1500 merchant partners, so you’ll never run out of coupon options. Home Depot, Uber, Macy’s, Etsy, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Gap, Expedia, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. are only some that you can choose from.
Ease Up on The Payment Method
Of course, you can find other cashback websites that can be equally good, if not better, than Ibotta in terms of so many things like perhaps, more merchant partners or higher rebates. The question is, do they make cashing out or claiming rebates easy? The big reality is that some can make your life miserable when trying to get paid.
With Ibotta, you have more options. You can link your account to your Paypal or Venmo, or if you prefer to get gift cards instead, you can choose from Amazon, Starbucks, and Best Buy as a form of payment.
Parting Words
Businesses and individuals alike can learn a lesson or two from Ibotta. From its humble beginnings in 2011 in Denver, Colorado, to be the state’s very first billionaire company, it surely isn’t a small feat. It just goes to show that ingenuity and great ideas work wonders, no matter how weird they seem to be at first.
So if you are considering a start-up business or if you are struggling to keep it afloat, you can draw inspiration from Ibotta. Otherwise, just enjoy shopping and all its perks!