A cashback website is a type of reward website (often also available on a mobile app) that pays its members a percentage of the money that they spend when they purchase goods and services via its affiliate links. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Leading cashback and similar programs providing U.S. consumers with rewards for shopping online with multiple vendors include Capital One Shopping, Ibotta, Rakuten and PayPal Honey. [5]
When a customer makes a purchase online, instead of visiting the retailer directly, they may choose to follow a link from a cashback website to generate a monetary reward when buying products or services. The cashback website receives a commission from the retailer that, after the purchase is confirmed, is shared with the customer who made the purchase.
A cashback app is a mobile application that offers users a percentage of cashback or rewards for making purchases through the app. These apps provide users with savings on various transactions, including online shopping, bill payments, groceries, and services like insurance.
Consumers can receive the cashback or similar rewards by searching on the cashback program's website, but usually also via its mobile app, via browser extensions. The plugins may also alert consumers to better prices for the same product from the program's participating merchants, or to available discount coupons. [5]
Users of cashback websites can know ahead of time how much they stand to get back for their purchases at each specific retailer before they buy. [6] The amount of time that it takes to receive the cashback benefits is dependent on the site. Certain sites will make their payments every four to six weeks, while others will only issue their rebates after a few months. The time gap between purchase and cashback payment is observed to rule out cashback payment to cancelled or returned goods.
Sites vary on what form of cashback rebates they offer their users. Some programs will provide the users with a percentage of the total purchase price, while others have a flat sum that they pay out for each action. Many cashback sites offer users a reward for referring others to the site.
Payment is generally made to the user in the form of bank transfers, gift vouchers, online sites such as PayPal, bank checks, mobile recharges or online orders at the request of the user. Some cashback websites place a threshold on a customer's account such that a user may need to make several transactions in order to be able to receive a reward.
Others sponsored by banks offer fixed or percent for purchases of certain items or from certain vendors that are given as a credit on the shopper's credit card bill. [7]
Some cashback sites also offer discussion forums, paid online surveys, daily deals, and other rewards to increase traffic and maintain customer loyalty.
A loyalty program or a rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program.
Sales promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations. Sales promotion uses both media and non-media marketing communications for a predetermined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples include contests, coupons, freebies, loss leaders, point of purchase displays, premiums, prizes, product samples, and rebates.
Discounts and allowances are reductions to a basic price of goods or services.
In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product.
FatWallet was a comparison shopping website, centering on a set of forums that allowed users to publish deals and rebate offers on products and services, with computer-related products and electronics most prominent in the listings. It was headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin, and ceased operation on October 9, 2017.
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.
A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term voucher is also a synonym for receipt and is often used to refer to receipts used as evidence of, for example, the declaration that a service has been performed or that an expenditure has been made. Voucher is a tourist guide for using services with a guarantee of payment by the agency.
Online shopping rewards are a type of loyalty program to e-commerce shoppers.
In marketing, a rebate is a form of buying discount and is an amount paid by way of reduction, return, or refund that is paid retrospectively. It is a type of sales promotion that marketers use primarily as incentives or supplements to product sales. Rebates are also used as a means of enticing price-sensitive consumers into purchasing a product. The mail-in rebate (MIR) is the most common. An MIR entitles the buyer to mail in a coupon, receipt, and barcode in order to receive a check for a particular amount, depending on the particular product, time, and often place of purchase. Rebates are offered by either the retailer or the product manufacturer. Large stores often work in conjunction with manufacturers, usually requiring two or sometimes three separate rebates for each item, and sometimes are valid only at a single store. Rebate forms and special receipts are sometimes printed by the cash register at time of purchase on a separate receipt or available online for download. In some cases, the rebate may be available immediately, in which case it is referred to as an instant rebate. Some rebate programs offer several payout options to consumers, including a paper check, a prepaid card that can be spent immediately without a trip to the bank, or even as a PayPal payout.
Cashback may refer to:
The term mobile commerce was originally coined in 1997 by Kevin Duffey at the launch of the Global Mobile Commerce Forum, to mean "the delivery of electronic commerce capabilities directly into the consumer’s hand, anywhere, via wireless technology." Many choose to think of Mobile Commerce as meaning "a retail outlet in your customer’s pocket."
Debit card cashback is a service offered to retail customers whereby an amount is added to the total purchase price of a transaction paid by debit card and the customer receives that amount in cash along with the purchase. For example, a customer purchasing $18.99 worth of goods at a supermarket might ask for twenty dollars cashback. The customer would approve a debit payment of $38.99 to the store, and the cashier would then give the customer $20 in cash.
An incentive program is a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees and in sales to attract and retain customers. Scientific literature also refers to this concept as pay for performance.
A decoupled debit card is a debit card in the US that is not issued by and not tied to any particular retail financial institution, such as a bank or credit union. This is based on the ability in the US ACH Network payment system to make an electronic payment from any bank or credit union without needing to use a card issued by the bank or credit union. A third party, such as a retailer, can create a decoupled debit card which will use this system to make a payment from the customer's checking account. They may do this as part of a loyalty scheme or to reduce their own debit card processing costs.
Groupon, Inc. is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon after in Boston, New York City and Toronto. By October 2010, Groupon was available in 150 cities in North America and 100 cities in Europe, Asia and South America, and had 35 million registered users. By the end of March 2015, Groupon served more than 500 cities worldwide, nearly 48.1 million active customers and featured more than 425,000 active deals globally in 48 countries.
Gas rebate credit cards or gas cashback cards became popular in the United States in the wake of the 2000s energy crisis and the rising price of gasoline.
Webloyalty is an online marketing company, part of Affinion Group, that runs reward programmes 'Shopper Discounts & Rewards' and 'Complete Savings'. These programmes require a monthly subscription in return for access to discounts similar to those on a cashback website. Previously, Webloyalty's marketing practices have attracted significant controversy and substantial lawsuits.
ShopBack is a cashback reward program available across the Asia-Pacific (APAC). It allows online shoppers to receive a small percentage of their purchases on the platform, paid for through affiliate programs by the merchant. The platform also provides coupons, voucher codes, product comparison, QR code payment, and most recently, buy-now-pay-later. It has 30 million users.
Ibotta, Inc. is an American mobile technology company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2011, the company offers cash back rewards on various purchases through its Ibotta Performance Network and direct to consumer app. Ibotta partners with CPG brands and network publishers to provide these rewards. As of 2024, the company operates solely in the United States. The company's rewards-as-a-service offering, the Ibotta Performance Network, went live in 2022.
iGraal is an online cashback, deals and coupons platform. It was founded in 2006 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. It is owned by Global Savings Group and operates in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.