Shopping – whether offline or online, if coupled with freebies and discount coupons attracts most people. And eCommerce used this tactic during its initial days – to offer lot of discounts, coupons on registration and referrals to widen its reach and sales. But Jochem Vroom and Jelle Van der Bij, from Netherlands though the idea was promising enough, and made a regular business out of it — when they built a site, Flipit.com – which offers discounts to all the leading eCommerce shops. While the initial idea took flight in Netherlands, Flipit has now come to Indian shores with its offerings.
Flipit is registered under with the name ImBull. Launched five years ago in Netherlands, Imbull capitalizes on the concept of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing, as Wikipedia quotes, is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. As the market grows in complexity, the emergence of a second tier players, including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and specialized third party vendors has become inevitable.
“The user can register with our site, scout for coupons they want and redeem those. The redemption amount varies from as little as Rs 100 to Rs 5000. All the coupons can be used only once by the shopper and come with an expiry date,” shares Jochem. The site covers all the major stores in India for trotters, fashionistas and epicures. MakeMyTrip.com, Yebhi.com and redBus.in are some of the customers they work with in India.Flipit considers India to be a big market and presence in India strengthens its claims to be a global player. E-commerce in India has been a vibrant space and been in the news for well-known companies taking big strides – the recent one being Flipkart.
Jochem Vroom
The company’s website has been built by an Indian firm Webflight, based out of Chandigarh, which also handles the backend technical operations for the startup.
What makes Flipit a global player, says Jochem, is that they have a huge database of all coupons worldwide. “No local website has this reach and possibilities. Flipit is currently working with around 200 partners, of which many global partners. This will increase to all Indian shops fast. It is possible to work with many partners fast due to the nature of performance based marketing,” shares Jochem.
Besides being an entrepreneur, Jochem also dons the hat of a blogger. He actively blogs on the Dutch affiliate marketing blog Affiliateblog.nl. One of his websites kortingscode.nl, which is associated with affiliate marketing and couponing won the best publisher award in 2013 in Netherlands. “People have ideas and want to start out with a perfect product. In my eyes it’s not important to start right away with a perfect product but it’s far more important to improve it on the go. Just make sure you are able to adapt quickly,” he suggests.
Flipit has presence in eight countries across the globe. It is a one-stop-shop for coupons claims Jochem, and the revenues Flipit earns, lies in the coupons that are redeemed. They get paid only if the visit from the site is converted into sales. Given Indians love for discounts and offers, Flipit expects that there will be no room for chagrin. Flipit gets close to a million visits everyday from all over the world and expect to reach 1.5 million by the end of year, avers Jochem. You can find a Flipit ad on advertorials, money saving blogs, e-mail and offline advertising.
Going global is costing the firm a lot in terms of funding and human resource. In a country as diverse as India, hiring and making the right affiliations is an arduous task. The firm, says Jochem, will take some time to find its feet, however with the present team on board, he is confident of helping them gain traction in the market. Back in Amsterdam, they have a team of 30 people, who are helping the startup take care of various requirements for the newer markets they are entering.
They are also considering Flipit mulls starting operations in USA, Europe, and few other countries located in Asia and South America.“My aim is to see Flipit as the global brand for best discount offers, a site earmarked for fun-filled and cost effective shopping,” announces Jochem.