Publisher Spotlight: Pouch
We interviewed Jonny Plein, co-founder of Pouch, the GSG – Shopping Assistant. He introduced the company and the main benefits of working with a browser extension. Amongst his thoughts on the market, he also told us about their new launch, as well as their plans for the next 12 months.
Can you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Jonny Plein, I am one of the co-founders of Pouch. After our business was acquired by Global Savings Group in December 2018, we are now called GSG – Shopping Assistant.
Being an accountant by background, I started in affiliate marketing 3 years ago when my co-founders and I saw an opportunity to build a browser extension for the UK market that would help both advertisers and consumers by improving the way voucher codes were found and redeemed.
You may have seen me when I appeared on Dragon’s Den with the Pouch Extension back in September 2017. We received 5 offers for the product, which is only the third time that has happened in the show’s 15 year history.
Can you introduce the Global Savings Group – Shopping Assistant and the core business values?
“GSG – Shopping Assistant” is the umbrella term for the various free-to-download browser extensions that we operate, the largest at the moment being Pouch. We have also just released an extension for the Daily Mail called Daily Mail Extras, which we are really excited about.
These browser extensions allow users to apply the best available voucher codes in one click, improving the user experience of saving money as compared to the traditional way of finding voucher codes through a search engine. When our extensions notify the user that no codes are available, rather than abandoning the website to search for a non-existent or expired voucher code, the consumer will convert without a discount. This in turn will increase conversion rates for retailers.
Our improved UX builds a lot of trust with the user, hence our 5-star rating on the chrome store.
What would you say are the biggest benefits for an advertiser working with Pouch?
The main benefit of a browser extension is being able to access a significant user base of discount savvy consumers aged between 25-45, who typically have a higher AOV than the averages of our retail partners. Advertisers can show their discount content directly to an audience who wants to consume it.
We ran split tests to see how KPIs such as AOV and conversion rates differ when a user has or doesn’t have an extension. The result of these tests showed that the number of users with an extension that converts is higher than the number of users who don’t have an extension. Better yet, the users with an extension spend more than those who don’t, meaning we are driving incremental sales for our advertisers.
Do you have any upcoming promotions, new launches, or exciting news you would like to share?
We have just launched the Daily Mail Extras extension, called Extras for short, which we have built for our media partner MailOnline. This extension works in a similar way to Pouch in terms of UX, and will be promoted by The Daily Mail via their digital channels. The Daily Mail has given us access to their Facebook advertiser account, their display network and their editorial team. Moreover, they have committed a multi-million GBP budget to promote the Extras extension, so we are really excited to grow the user base and drive more sales for our retailer partners.
Any exciting plans coming up in the next 12 months?
GSG has some groundbreaking features that are currently only available on the voucher codes websites, such as dynamic coupons and rewards. We are excited to integrate these features into our extensions to give advertisers more flexibility in the way that their sales are driven. For example, a retailer who doesn’t often use voucher codes could incentivise a sale with a gift card, rather than with a discount.
We are also planning to launch an extension with one of our media partners in mainland Europe, either in Germany or France.
Where do you think is the Affiliate space heading to in the next year and what are the main market disruptions?
In most digital industries, there has been a trend of Consumer-led-design, meaning you build products that have ease-of-use for consumers as the first priority, rather than focussing on how to make the most money from the offset. This design builds a loyal user base and higher retention in the long term. Just look at Monzo and Revelot, consumers evangelise these brands because they are so easy to use compared to the alternatives.
I think we will start to see this trend a lot more in the affiliate space as well. Rather than thinking short term, publishers will start to optimise for the consumer first, which in the long run will drive value for the advertiser.
What do you most enjoy about affiliate marketing?
I like being able to help advertisers with their specific issues in such a competitive digital market. Our extensions have a loyal user base, so it is great when we add value for an advertiser by getting their message to our users and when we see the impact it has on their business. We are ultimately here to drive revenue for advertisers, so when we say we will help them do XYZ and achieve it, it is a great feeling of a job well done.
Is there anything else you’d like our advertisers to know?
According to a survey done by Google and ComScore, extensions rank equally with voucher code websites and coupon apps as a consumer’s favourite way to get voucher code content. This just shows what impact the user first focus has had on the consumer in such a short space of time. If advertisers want to be where the consumer attention is, they should definitely add browser extensions like Pouch and Extras to the publishers they work with.
If you want to find out more about working with GSG’s browser extension, please contact me at jonny.plein@global-savings-group.com.
The Interviewer:
Fatme is a Partnership Development Manager at Tradeboubler UK since September 2018. Being part of the Publisher Team she looks after key publishers and performance. With over 3 years of experience in marketing, Fatme has been exposed to the entire marketing mix and is now applying her knowledge, expertise and strategic approach into developing and optimising Tradedoubler’s top publisher’s portfolio.
Interested in working with Pouch? To find out more please contact our Partnership Development team.
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