Following the sale of Welovelocal.com to GCap, the guys over at Econversions.co.uk – who use the revenues from their affiliate marketing company to spin out startups – have created far more credit-crunch oriented startup.
Vouchercodes.co.uk is designed to “help people save money shopping online by bringing together the best deals, discounts and money saving voucher codes for the UK’s leading stores.” Rightly or wrongly, vouchers are used by stores to push targeted deals and special offers to drive more sales, especially during downturns.
The Vouncher Codes model will probably be music to the ears of fans of Cost Per Acquisition: when someone buys something using their voucher codes the site receives a commission (typically between 2 – 20%) of the sale value. Via many of the major affiliate networks, the site has a CPA commercial relationship with 750 merchants so far and negotiating exclusive codes for the site.
So that’s it then? Web 2.0 is over and it’s all going to be about e-commerce from here on in, huh? What do you think – leave your thoughts in the comments.
Not so much e-commerce all the way, but certainly time to get a decent business model sorted right at the start.
Perhaps we will see the end of massive investments in start-ups who don’t have any revenue or even any plans on how they may get to revenue!
In relation to this post though, the voucher code industry is a tough cookie to crack, with a fair bit of competition… good luck to the guys Econversions though, makes sense for someone in that industry.
Not at all.
What makes you think that this specific move of some company signifies the end of Web 2.0 and going back to the once-hyped “e-commerce?”. If at least we could read one argument about this (not to mention why Web 2.0 is dead, except for M. Arrington’s latest posts in the US site)
I was surprised to view another UK based voucher code site at vouchercodes.com.
Is this not confusingly similar?
Typing ‘vouchercodes’ and ‘voucher codes’ into Google brings ups further examples of brand dilution.
I hope Web 2.0 has taught visitors to be more demanding of their websites. A greater level of functionality, better asthetics, and a commitment on the part of the team behind the site to continue to innovate no matter what their chosen space.
We hope to bring those ideals to every area of our work.
Cheers.
Daniel Bower
Gadget Freak – Nice call. Ok, so this is not going to work…
Nice to read a post about a company that’s probably going to make a tonne of cash, rather than just being a neat idea. Sometimes I think the tech blogs don’t really focus on the sites out there that are making serious chunks of change (greasypalm, quidco, etc)
Mike Butcher: it’s going to work a damn-sight quicker than a website that: ‘Ego is everything at bragster, the online community for daring, boasting and bragging’….with a social network base of course.
GreasyPalm/Quidco have very different business models. People get locked in. Hence Microsoft/Jellyfish trying that route with their CPA shopping engine. Aggregating any form of shopping info is very difficult because it’s such as complex area. Perhaps they can see a way through which, I guess, is why we all try it in the first place.
I’m a merchant – I’m dead happy for affiliates like this to generate fat traffic and send it to me. All power to them. And Quidco. And Greasypalm.
And as a consumer, I’m also dead happy. I’ve rebated about £500 on online shopping so far this year. Geronimo. Top tip – do you mum’s online shopping for her if she doesn’t like computers
I know this may seem like a plug, but we run http://www.promotions.co.uk which in my honest opinion is a lot more a unique idea.
Thanks
Doug
I’m not sure it’s the death of Web 2.0, I’m sure that will die all by itself without any help from e-commerce
well it will unless some sustainable business models can be found, scale isn’t the solution for all of them.
@GadgetFreak – I’m guessing these guys have a plan for the brand dilution (well in SERP’s) as they are affiliates
There are so many voucher code websites out there. What makes this one any different?
i love your new voucher coupon site, thanks…