Ibotta, the mobile shopping app whose users have earned more than USD 110 million in rewards on in-store purchases, launched a brand-new way for consumers to discover great brands and earn rewards on mobile, in-app purchases on August 31, 2016. Through partnerships with mobile commerce leaders such as Boxed, Groupon, Hotels.com, and Jet, Ibotta will offer rewards to shoppers for ordering goods and services directly from their smart phones and tablets.
As part of this app-to-app market place, Ibotta, which already features an array of offers from brands and retailers for rewards on groceries, clothing, electronics, and other in-store items, will now feature a mobile apps category. Launch partners include Boxed, delivery.com, DoorDash, Drizly, Groupon, Hotels.com, Jet, and Spring.
“More people than ever before are making purchases through mobile apps as a convenient way to shop right from their smart phones but, until now, there hasn’t been a way to save on those in-app purchases. Now, shoppers can unlock offers through Ibotta before they shop on other apps, and automatically earn rewards whenever they book hotel rooms, order food delivery, purchase concert tickets, and more,” said Bryan Leach, founder and CEO of Ibotta.
Ibotta commissioned a recent survey on the mobile shopping habits of smart phone users that showed increased consumer interest for a more seamless way to earn rewards on mobile purchases. Nearly 62% of respondents said they would be more willing to make in-app purchases if offered rewards, and 75% said they would be more willing to try a new app if they earned cash back on a first purchase.
Button, a contextual commerce company that powers the app-to-app deep-linking experiences for Ibotta, provides seamless navigation from Ibotta to the purchase flow on partner apps. Consumers start their shopping journey with the Ibotta app, where they can unlock offers, and then are taken directly to the selected native app to shop for goods and services. Once users complete an in-app purchase, Button automatically verifies the Ibotta rewards in near real time, providing users instant feedback on their rewards. Since the user rewards drive a higher intent to purchase from consumers, Button’s commerce partners find it to be one of the highest converting channels for mobile app acquisition. According to a Button case study, publishers boast revenue increases north of 450% versus driving users to mobile web.
With more than two million mobile apps available for download in the United States, and Americans spending more than USD 100 billion a year on mobile purchases, Ibotta’s app-to-app marketplace gives consumers a new way to discover innovative mobile brands, and purchase products and services on their smart phones and tablets. It also provides Ibotta partners with the first app discovery affiliate platform to drive additional download and incremental in-app spending through offers and rewards.
“Together with Ibotta, Button is changing the way users discover and transact within the app economy. As we’ve seen with the success of companies in China, becoming the launching point for transactional behavior is arguably the most prolific and durable business model that exists in mobile. By creating enjoyable experiences for users and uncapped revenue opportunities, Button’s helping to introduce this model to the US, and we’re thrilled to play a role in this evolution and in the innovation Ibotta is pioneering,” said Michael Jaconi, Co-founder & CEO of Button. |