Publisher Spotlight: iGraal



iGraal, the number 1 cashback portal, works with more than 1.800 partner shops to offer users the best deals and high cashback. We interviewed Samy El Chehaly – the EU Sales Director at Global Savings Group, to tell you more about the publisher and its work.



Company


Can you briefly introduce yourself?

iGraal

I am Samy El Chehaly, EU Sales Director at Global Savings Group. The sales team is focused on negotiating the best offers for our community and making our partners achieve their goals. I am overseeing all commercial teams across the EU for our 3 brands. iGraal, Shoop, and Pouch.


What’s the story and the business value behind iGraal?

iGraal is a French success story. In 2006, this brand was born in a garage. At first, there were only three people to launch this simple idea: create a virtuous shopping circle by connecting brands and buyers. iGraal is born to reward partners and members, which is our business model and DNA. From the beginning, we wanted to offer a straightforward service, multi-device and user-centric, always having in mind the user experience.

Our added value is to answer business needs with an all-in-one and non-risky solution for the partner. Increase transactions, purchase frequency, revenues, and generates new clients thanks to our network of +12M shopping members all over Europe. The partner gives a “commission” to iGraal for each sale (also called CPA).

For the customer, this is about supporting their purchasing power. As a French mindset, we wanted to re-allocate money to people who make the effort of keeping a country’s growth by consuming. So we decided to share our revenue from partners with members. The portion of the income we share with our members is the cashback. This money is not a discount; this is a reward. Members can, indeed, transfer this money to their bank account and withdraw them.

This reward in cash helps consumers and brands be closer and closer to generating satisfaction and gratitude on both sides. Everyone wins.


Tell us more about your audience and what types of advertisers you work with best?

iGraal is live in France, Spain, and Germany next to Shoop. We count over 12 million members. Who are they? They are online shoppers looking for an intelligent way to shop. They used to buy online, and they are from different generations. On average, in France in 2019, they purchased more than seven times a year and spent 40€ per purchase.

European wise, we work with more than 4000 brands, including local and international ones. We work with all types of brands. Travel has always been number 1 in revenues due to high cashback on high basket sales in terms of vertical. If we look at the transaction level, fashion, beauty, and high tech are the top ones. Lower cashback rates but a much higher purchase frequency per year.


What are the critical factors in determining which programs to join and what you look for in an advertiser partner?

Like most publishers, we are looking for the commission offered and the EPC we can earn – that’s basic.

But as a cashback service for consumers, the CPA is crucial as it will determine the offer for the member. If the commission fits with the market average, we are OK to join the program. The offer is the key to a successful partnership. The better the proposal is, the better it will perform and allow us to achieve advertisers’ goals.

At the same time, it’s essential to make sure we cover a large scale of offers and merchants. That’s why we are pretty open to joining all programs that could be relevant to our community.



USP


What are the advantages when an advertiser enters into a partnership with iGraal?

Partnerships are critical for us. We expect long-term partnerships. We have been partnering with retailers for more than ten years in many cases. We don’t want to “plug” partners, and that’s it! We wish to advise our partners in every phase of their journey through this channel. iGraal designs custom-made offers for the partners, and each partner has direct contact with a dedicated advisor. Being always available to our partners is one of our main competitive advantages.

Another aspect is about visibility offers. We try to stay innovative and adapt to answer as best as possible for our partners’ and customers’ needs. An iGraal partner has access to:

· Our commercial events with premium spaces
· We design our “out-of-the-box” events to increase partners’ results significantly (iGraal days, Flash Mondays…)
· Our newsletters can be dedicated and targeted to a specific audience
· Our influence marketing team can offer efficient solutions to make influencers speak about partners
· Our content to commerce strategy allows the partner to have visibility in press media


Besides that iGraal also protects and enhances the pictures of the partners. In December 2021, we launched a survey led by Appinio about cashback in France to 1000 online shoppers. That revealed that 87% of people already a member of a cashback website such as iGraal or Shoop has a better image of e-shops offering cashback. 70% consider cashback sites trustworthy because we select our partners on quality criteria.

Cashback, for our partners, is also a way to recover market share. Indeed, 60% of cashback users consider it a decisive factor in the purchasing process and are even willing to change their habits in favor of sites offering cashback. If you don’t offer cashback, you risk them switching to your competitors, and your competitors are offering cashback and taking market share from you.

In addition to that, we bring value to partners because we are a single entree in the European market. Indeed, iGraal exists in France, Germany, where we are number one linked to Shoop, and in Spain, where we arrived in 2021, and we are already the second player in the market. One single point gives you access to three calls.


Why is iGraal an exciting company?

iGraal is a company where there is an excellent mix between experience and youth spirit.

Everyone can find his place and enjoy a great adventure of changing the way people do shopping. Since the creation of the company, iGraal has constantly evolved and innovated. We always thrived on keeping one of our mantras live, “fail fast.” With that in mind, you can always stay excited!


What’s the best thing about working for your company?

At iGraal, we are committed to developing our partners and the happiness of our members as we do for our employees. We encourage training and give everyone the chance to develop the skills they want, make suggestions, and think outside of the box. We maintain the freedom of each individual to undertake within the company while keeping in mind the addition of value.



Tradedoubler


Why did you join the Tradedoubler network?

We joined Tradedoubler for apparent reasons. Affiliate programs opened in countries were profitable and very interesting. Most of the top eCommerce companies worked with Tradedoubler at least once.


How has the Tradedoubler platform helped grow the iGraal affiliate presence?

As Tradedoubler was active in several countries, it was an excellent opportunity for iGraal to increase its presence in other countries.



Next


What are the latest cashback trends?

Cashback is a growing market, and we expect to have this industry reaching more than 250 $bln by 2030. Cashback is expanding everywhere thanks to the positive response of both users and merchants.

We see interesting new trends coming from a wide range of actors; for example, the government in Italy is approving a law to purchase drugs in pharmacies with cashback. Blockchain and Crypto players also understood the value-added of this channel and are now open to welcoming cashback in their offers.


Where do you think is the affiliate space heading to in the next year, and what are the leading market disruptions?

Data and structuring it were the focus for the past few years. Now it’s time to use it to improve the user experience in every step of his online/offline journey.

With the use of data for more personalization, the importance of social media in digital advertising, live shopping is becoming mainstream, and Experience and Emotions are the following levels of commerce.


Do you have any upcoming promotions, new launches, or exciting news you would like to share?

To guarantee the best user experience for our members, we are almost ready to launch an innovative product that will create a future-proof and seamless purchasing experience for our users. I can only say that we are officially entering the Fintech space – stay tuned!



Samy El Chehaly from iGraal
Samy El Chehaly, EU Sales Director at Global Savings Group

A big thank you to Samy El Chehaly for this very informative Interview.



Do you want to establish a partnership with iGraal? Don’t hesitate to contact us >>

Share this on:

Suggested posts

5 years with Peter Delew

From Fashion Stylist to Account Director - Today, we celebrate the 5th work anniversary of Peter Delew. Find insights into his career and what has shaped him during the last 5 years at Tradedoubler in our interview!

Advertiser Spotlight: FloraQueen

The Easter Shopping Season has already started. So today, we want to introduce you to your perfect partner for the Easter season: FloraQueen. Learn more in our interview and establish your partnership!

Technology Updates: Advertisers

We are continuously developing our technology offers. Here you will find an overview of all new features, tools, and technical updates for our Advertisers!