Brief:
- Cash-back rewards app Ibotta this week started a self-service platform for emerging consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands that want to offer rewards to customers. Ibotta Go lets brands monitor the performance of their promotions and receive alerts when they reach set milestones, according to an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
- Ibotta Go has several packages for promotional programs, letting CPG brands enter the product description, manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), as well as which retailers carry the offer. Ibotta Go also provides demographic data and optional feedback from verified buyers.
- Ibotta Go lets brands set goals for their campaigns, such as boosting awareness and sales among their entire retail distribution channel or focusing on specific retailers in certain regions, per the announcement.
Insight:
Ibotta's new self-service platform aims to help smaller CPG brands that may not have the financial resources or technical expertise to develop a cash-back rewards promotion for shoppers.
Brands spend 12% to 20% of their yearly revenue on marketing, according to data cited by Ibotta, and it's easy for lesser-known brands and startups to get drowned out among the estimated 33,000 items carried by the average grocery store. Offering cash-back rewards can help to convert shoppers into new customers or maintain the loyalty of previous ones.
Ibotta's shopper rewards app has been downloaded 35 million times and has paid back more than $600 million to its users, its website says. By working with Ibotta Go, emerging CPG brands can offer rewards to shoppers among the retailers that carry their products, making their marketing efforts more focused on key audience segments, retailers and regions. Ibotta works with more than 1,500 brands and retailers including grocery stores, drugstores and mass merchants.
The introduction of Ibotta Go follows several marketing initiatives by the company to promote its service among mobile consumers. With the coronavirus pandemic causing financial distress for many people, Ibotta's "Here to Help" campaign last month offered $10 million in cashback rewards to consumers from brands such as Tic Tac, Kellogg's Cereal, Huggies Pull-Ups, Flipz and Kind snack bars. Its recent promotions also include an Earth Day campaign in April that featured marketers such as Nestlé, Danone and Post cereals.
