Ibotta’s Smart Shopping List Finds Consumers Cash

Ibotta, the mobile savings app, just upgraded the app by adding a shopping list designed to help consumers save even more money by receiving cash-back rebates.

Ibotta is a tech company looking to reinvent the relationship between consumers and the brands they patronize by reimagining the coupon for the digital age. As a company that’s backed with $20 million in funding, it has grown to a majorly popular mobile coupon app. It has a monthly user base of over 2 million, which takes advantage of Ibotta’s perks by shopping and then redeeming the rebate-eligible items for cash back. Users can also use store loyalty cards to make the process more seamless.

And now, with its shopping list addition, Ibotta is trying to make the user experience that much more seamless.

“Ninety percent of people who use a promo code today are people who were already on the merchant’s site within the last 30 minutes [of a visit]. This means retailers are giving away margin to people who are already in your store — and that’s not good business,” Ibotta CEO and founder Bryan Leach told MPD CEO Karen Webster in a recent discussion.

With the new shopping list addition, the app enables customers to make a list that then generates which offers are available in their area based on what’s on that list. The list is said to work with more than 150,000 stores.

And here’s how they’re trying to achieve a better way to do business. And a better way to coupon.

“We’re trying to take a giant step back and rethink how brands and retailers can better provide value to consumers. Instead of just taking the 120-year-old coupon technique and transporting it to a mobile screen, we are really trying to think of a new way for brands to leverage the real potential of mobile,” Leach explained. “A mobile device allows a consumer to have a totally different kind of interaction. We are looking to build something that can really generate awareness and loyalty and that is more effective than just reinforcing a transactional relationship.”



To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.