Cashkaro.com Cashes in on the Youth

The campaign is aimed at attracting the attention of the youth towards the concept of cash-back on their retail and e-commerce purchases.

Cashkaro.com, one of India's largest cash-back and coupons website, has launched a digital video campaign on YouTube. The campaign, created by Boring Brands, is targeted at the internet-savvy youth of India who are looking for bargains.

Published on September 3, the video has seen close to 50,000 views on the company's YouTube channel. CashKaro is also promoting the campaign through contests and posts on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #CashbackTohBantaHai.

The company also plans to continue the campaign with new videos every fortnight. The first phase of the ad campaign will have three commercials featuring everyday Indian scenarios and reactions of the common man. The ads intend to highlight cash-back as a concept, by using witty and humorous incidents depicting our addiction to getting cash-back in every possible circumstance.

Speaking about the objective of the campaign, Swati Bhargava, co-founder, CashKaro.com says that idea of the videos was not to sell CashKaro.com. "We are trying to show how people enjoy the concept of cash-back in every purchase they make. The central idea of the campaign is to capture the next big wave in e-commerce: cash-back. CashKaro is a young brand and our audience, majorly the youth, love a bargain and fun videos. A viral and visual medium like YouTube is perfect to connect with them." She adds that, while an increasing number of people are now shopping online in India, many of them are still to experience the benefits and joy of getting cash-back on any product they buy online.

According to Bhargava, e-commerce brands are realising the contribution of affiliate sites like CashKaro, and cash-back offers have become a deciding factor for customers when choosing between the various e-commerce brands in India. Also, customers now expect to earn cash-back, irrespective of the product they are purchasing online. "CashKaro has been witnessing a high repeat purchase rate on mobile recharge, fashion, books or big-ticket items like electronics, laptops and even travel bookings. This is also driven by shoppers realising that cash-back can be earned over and above coupons provided by e-commerce sites themselves, thereby making the highest savings possible," she adds.

CashKaro.com was launched in April 2013 as a cash-back and coupons site in India. Members can get extra cash-back when they shop at Myntra, Jabong, Amazon.in, Yatra and 500+ e-commerce partners. This is over and above the coupons already available on sites. Cashkaro is a product of the UK- and India-based Pouring Pounds, which runs cashkaro.com in India and pouringpounds.com in the UK. The company has raised $750,000 (Rs 4.5 crore) from a group of 10-12 independent UK-based angel investors.

Cashkaro has a two-pronged business model where it offers coupons of various e-commerce companies as well as cash-back on purchases made via Cashkaro. It charges brands a percentage of every sale done on its portal as commission. Bhargava says that, so far, Cashkaro has seen Rs 50 crore of sales through the platform and has given Rs 2.5 crore in cash-back to customers.

The brand has been promoted digitally, mostly through Google ads. However, there are plans to launch a TV campaign as well in the future. Anshul Sushil, co-founder and CEO, Boring Brands, says, "CashKaro already has a well-engaged audience on Facebook and we wanted to expand that reach with this campaign, to ensure that we are where our audience is - YouTube."

According to him, almost two-thirds of its viewers in India are under 35 years of age and an emerging consumer pool. "We picked 'Cashback Toh Banta Hai' as a theme because we have seen how Indians love little bargains in shopping." Cashkaro has more than five lakh fans on Facebook and more than 1,700 followers on Twitter.