Wow! These past few weeks have been a really busy and exciting time for us at Linkable Networks, beginning with the announcement that we were named one of Red Herring’s Top 100 North America Winners, an honor that is given to the most innovative, disruptive and fastest growing startups. Linkable Networks was picked from hundreds of candidates based on our financial performance, quality of product, and many more qualitative and quantitative criteria. This was both a thrill and an honor for us, as past winners now make up a virtual who’s-who list of successful high-tech companies.
We are also excited to have been notified that our SKU-level (stock keeping unit) technology has recently received a patent. SKU-level technology allows brands and retailers to offer card-linked offers at the individual product level. This SKU-level capability enables advertisers to shrink their budget by delivering accurate in-store redemptions, while streamlining the process for consumers; no need to clip, print or remember the coupon when planning your latest shopping excursion. Having the SKU capability is critical, as over 70% of all coupons and offers are for individual items, or SKUs.
Recently, we formed a fantastic new partnership with Chicagoland’s Inland Bank, bringing digital coupons to their customers. Our new partnership allows Inland Bank customers to link offers from local businesses directly to their Inland Bank Visa cards. Once a customer’s card is registered with Linkable Networks, the consumer can link card-linked offers – called Linkables – to their Inland Bank Visa debit or credit card with just once simple click. Once the offer is purchased, the customer will see the savings directly on their bank statement. We are excited to be bringing this capability to the Chicago area, and specifically Inland Bank customers, and cannot wait to see how quickly this catches on and people start saving money!
In addition to all the news about partnerships and patents, we recently conducted a survey on coupon usage and the way smartphones are changing how Americans shop. The results of the survey were eye opening and certainly showed us that people are still interested in saving money, but are shifting the way they save. For example, one statistic I found particularly interesting was that a whopping 95% of Americans use coupons while shopping and 73% use coupons a few times a month. Deep down I knew consumers liked to save and use coupons, but the 95% figure blew my mind. Equally as important, was that 61% of consumers use online sites for coupons and promotional codes. The figure illustrates that people are in fact making the shift from clipping coupons from the Sunday newspaper to searching for them online and in various digital formats.
As for how smartphones are impacting shopping habits, 67% of Americans check their smartphone to compare prices, and 38% of respondents would try a new retailer if they could get a better deal. And who doesn’t want a better deal these days?
Here at Linkable Networks, we have also continued to grow and expand not only our customer base, but our team as well. We now reach more than 200 million U.S. customers each month. Lunds & Byerly, a Minnesota based grocery chain, has expanded their relationship with us by co-presenting Linkable opportunities to their consumer packaged goods company partners.
These are truly exciting times for us as the card-linked offer space continues to gain momentum and popularity and we look forward to sharing more details with you as they happen. We have a ton of big announcements coming within the next several months, so stay tuned!
