Page 18 - bne_Magazine_April_2018

18 I Companies & Markets bne April 2018
has to have a scanner to read barcodes – have empowered Edadeal to make the cashback offer really powerful and data rich in way that is not possible in most other countries.
The QR codes were introduced to allow customers to see what they bought and how much tax was charged. The scanners were imposed to read bar codes on bottles of alcohol after the state introduced tough rules limiting the hours when vodka and booze can be sold as part of a public health drive against alcoholism.
Taken all together and suddenly the manufacturer is in the driver seat when it comes to offering discounts on their products, a place previously occupied by the retail outlets.
In the old days a punter would clip a coupon that gave them say a 10% discount on a bottle of pop. In Russia the maker actually sells their pop to the retailer, who then on-sells it to the consumer. That means the supermarket is actually the manufacturer’s biggest customer and remains divorced from the punter that actually drinks the pop, says Shagarina.
However, what Edadeal is pushing is a scheme where the manufacturer directly interacts with the punter and pays them cash back on each purchase, paying into an electronic wallet or a service like Yandex.Money. The customer can claim their reward by scanning the QR code on their bill into the Edadeal app that connects to the tax authorities database and shows the customer has actually bought the bottle of pop. As a spin-off the tax authorities are very
keen on the scheme as it forces stores to put all their bills through the internet-connected cash register and prevents them from cheating.
Getting a cash payment rather than paying less for a product is far more appealing to consumers as it feel like “free money” that they can spend on something else. For the manufacturer the scheme is an El Dorado of information about their customers they have never been able to access before.
Promotion dependence Promotion sales share, %
“In retail you have to understand who your customer is and for a manufacturer like Coke that is the vendor, not the shopper as it was the supermarkets that were buying the bottles of coke and then selling them on. With cashback the manufacturer has direct access to the shopper for the first time,” says Shagarina.
Edadeal also benefits from this scheme as it opens the way to big data analysis of punters' shopping habits that will allow it to design much more targeted promotions. Why give discounts or cash to everyone when you can target only those people you want to attract? Even the store wins as they have been grappling with ways to get closer to their customers with
only partial success.
“Many stores are offering customer loyalty cards, but if you go to 10 stores that means 10 cards. The Edadeal app gets round that problem as it is the only way to centralise the loyalty
“We are going to completely change the way companies offer and use discounts”
schemes,” says Shagarina. “It is very hard for a company like Coca-Cola to talk to you. It is very hard for them to get your data even from the stores they sell their products through.
It is also very hard for the vendors to get close to you. Loyalty cards are only a partial solution.”
A raft of FMCG companies have already signed up to take advantage of the cashback promotion scheme, including: Ferrero, Mars, Henkel, Nestle, Baltika, Bonduelle Kuban, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, Efes, KraftHeinz and Morozko.
“Cashback cuts out the noise,” says Shagarina. “When you go to a store you are flooded with offers, but when someone is putting cash on your account you focus a lot more.”
For manufacturers it is a unique opportunity to connect directly with their customers. Targeted communications encourages loyalty amongst customers and that leads directly to boosted sales.
Shagarina wants to extend the cashback idea to appeal to retailers too. A simple idea is that once a customer spends
a fixed about of money with a retailer they automatically get some cash back, which will pull more customers into stores. Her app can calculate this money into the shopping itinerary automatically, changing the route depending on what and how much a punter wants to buy.
Not bad for a stay-at-home mum with a bit of spare time on her hands.
www.bne.eu