Mumbai-based coupon aggregator, CouponDunia has announced the launch of coupons for in-store shopping at local malls and high streets along with a corresponding total revamp of their website and app. Now users shopping in malls etc. will be able to locate coupons on Coupondunia for the nearby shops.
Founder & CEO CouponDunia, Sameer Parwani says, “We have realised that through online shopping, we are catering only to a small portion of our potential user base. 98% of the transactions still happen at offline stores and we hold a vision to provide easy deals at every store, our users walk through.”
Ensue the launch, users will get coupons for offline stores in categories like apparel, footwear, accessories, home decor, baby, electronics, jewelry, gaming, handbags. Company has partnered with over 200 brands including Shoppers Stop, Calvin Klein, Marks & Spencers, Skechers, and more.
Company has also revamped its website and application from scratch, to offer a very distinctive set of services:
- This new App/Website will auto-detect user’s nearby malls, stores and restaurants, which offer discounts for CouponDunia users.
- The whole interface has been made image intensive to provide a rich user experience.
- Currently, app will feature over 15,000 outlets.
CouponDunia was founded by Sameer Parwani in 2010. The company was acquired by Times Group for an undisclosed amount, in May 2014. Since then, CouponDunia has grown leap and bound in both numbers and men. Today, this 190 people strong team has ventured into various verticals and also plans to launch FMCG(Fast Moving Consumer Goods) couponing soon.
Important Figures:
- Currently gets over 9Mn users/month on app and website combined.
- 2 Mn app downloads
- 50% recurring customers
- Market Value(GMV) of $166Mn per year.
- Company is operating in six cities – Ahmedabad, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai.
- Partners with 5,000 restaurants, 12000 retail outlets and 2000 online stores
Talking of the future plans, Sameer says, “ We will be soon expanding into offline store categories like grocery, beauty, entertainment and more. He also added, “ In the next couple of months, app will also be available in Hyderabad and Kolkata, followed by few other cities by year end.”
In Restaurant couponing, CouponDunia competes with Delhi-based GroupOn. Whereas, in the other offline categories, CouponDunia is the first one to introduce the concept in India and thus faces no competition, here. However, in the global market CouponDunia competes with companies like CouponSherpa, Southern Savers and many more.
Cashkaro.com, Groupon and Mydala also operates in the same space of online stores’ couponing.
Boston Consulting Group and Retailers Association of India’s report titled, ‘Retail 2020: Retrospect, Reinvent, Rewrite’, states- India’s present retail market size stands at $600Bn and is expected to touch $1Tn by 2020. The retail spending in India’s top seven cities, currently amounts to $57.56Bn with an organised retail penetration at 19% in 2014.
The Indian retail industry accounts for over 10% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and around 8% of the employment in India. The country is today the fifth largest global destination in the world for retail and also, one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries as several players have started to enter the market. ( as reported by ibef.org)
With the launch of in-store coupons, CouponDunia has created a hybrid model for couponing (already applied in niche ecommerce by companies like HealthKart, FirstCry, LensKart and FabFurnish). Under Hybrid model, retailers open both offline and online stores to improve brand presence. Working on the similar lines, CouponDunia has started both offline and online coupons, rendering to a merger of online and offline services.
Combining offline and online services carry the enormous potential to improve customer engagement, brand’s presence and credibility. Same has been the reason behind recent boom of Hyperlocal market and will probably be the game changer for couponing industry too.
