The Ultimate Online discount superstore
A Relatively new and not-so-well know trend is taking over online shopping. A major difference it is making to the the way we shop online today is that we will no longer search for seller / brand websites when looking to buy something online, rather we will first search for a suitable discount on everything, from where we will get redirected to the seller / brand website. People going directly to seller / brand websites will be likely to make purchases at higher rates than those coming through the route of the discount websites. This will essentially mean that discount websites will in fact become the search engines when you want to shop online.
There are a number of big names when it comes to discount websites that offer discount codes, vouchers, deals, sale and promotions on a host of hot-sell items. But the one I picked up to review is just a newbie to the world of discount — goforvoucher.com — an online discount store launched by a group of young tech savvy software engineers associated with an emerging startup called NetJet. Prime reason for picking up this seemingly novice website for review, as opposed to other discount giants, is it's simplicity, sheer transparency of business model and immunity to data breaches.
The website is a listing of discount vouchers and codes on a whole variety of brands and products and all a visitor has to do to avail a listed discount is click on the brand / seller's link. The website then redirects the user to the website of the seller and this redirection gets recorded by the website's intricate code. In case the user ends up making the purchase, goforvoucher gets a small referral fee / commission on the sale. The website has disclosed this arrangement on its website in very open terms, which I found a little bold, as in today's world of pay-per-view-click-like business models, disclosing the commission arrangement with sellers / brands actually amounts to revealing your trade secret to the whole world, including your competitors. However, the company remains unafraid of this and believes that as long as good discounts are listed on the website, no problem is big enough to pose a challenge.
Fantastically, this website doesn't require the visitor to create any sort of user account in order to avail a discount. There is an option to subscribe to their newsletter (by providing email address) but that is also not mandatory for user to use all of the website's services. There is no premium or members' section that puts registered users above the ordinary (non-registered) user. Since your personal and financial information (credit card / paypal etc.) is not obtained, using the website is totally secure and data-breach / misuse proof. This is making the website very popular especially in Europe, where following the facebook / Cambridge Analytica data scandal, online consumers are increasingly cautious in giving their information to websites and apps. Getting the users registered on a website is actually a very effective way of building a base of return-traffic, by not asking the users to create an account, goforvoucher is actually giving up an essential of online business. Thus I reached out to the website's spokesperson for a comment. She explained that this has been long debated in the company however, the consensus is to keep the website open to all and stick to the no-strings-attached policy. However, when asked if there are any plans to launch such a feature in the future, she responded that if it is ever done in the future, it will be only to enable users to view the history of their purchases and still no financial information / credit card details will be taken, ever.
In terms of choice the website offers, an ordinary user can actually find some kind of discount on everything that you find in a Supermarket including clothing, fashion, electronics, home, furnitures, appliances, accessories, books, kids, food, health, music and entertainment, hobbies, sports and leisure and so on. However, I would say that there is still room for addition of some mainstream brands and sellers in the offering.
The websites aspires to become the largest online discount superstore by the end of 2018, a feat which appears impossible considering the competition. Yet the team remains committed and runs a three-shift round the clock office to make sure that the website and its business is being looked after at all times. Welcome your comments and shares.