If there was ever any doubt about the strength of the global cashback industry, two recent acquisitions should encourage investors and cashback site operators.
Right in the middle of the global coronavirus pandemic, Global Savings Group (GSG) reached a deal to acquire the leading French cashback, vouchers, and coupons company iGraal from majority shareholder M6 Group. The March 23, 2020 transaction included $38 million in cash and a share exchange valued at $134 million.
In 2019, iGraal averaged 3.71 million monthly website visitors ranking it ninth among the EU’s leading cashback industry companies. With an estimated 4 million members, iGraal ranks third in the Cashback Industry Report’s 2020 ranking of EU cashback companies.
iGraal offers a wide range of cashback discounts, coupons, and vouchers offering savings from 3% to 10% and more for members’ online purchases from merchants that include such well-known brands as Groupon, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, ASOS, H&M, Yves Rocher, Samsung, Canon, eBay, Lenovo, AliExpress, Booking.com, and NordVPN.
Cashback industry growing with e-commerce
With more than 1,460 merchants, and based in Robaix, France, iGraal was acquired by TV company M6 Group in 2016. In addition to its French site, iGraal also operates a popular German cashback site under the same brand.
The acquisition reflects the growth of e-commerce globally and the importance of the $108 billion cashback industry worldwide according to the Cashback Industry Report, the global industry’s leading authority. The report features profiles and analysis of more than 450 leading cashback companies in 10 major markets.
In May 2018, Groupon acquired UK’s Cloud Savings Company, parent of Vouchercloud, for $65 million. Daily deals and local commerce site Groupon announced the acquisition to ramp up its UK operations with discount offers and specifically those tied to loyalty savings programs.
Who can forget Walmart’s $16 billion acquisition of India’s biggest e-commerce site Flipkart in May 2018 after 20 months of negotiations? Then there was Amazon’s $580 million acquisition of Souq.com, the Middle East’s largest e-commerce site since rebranded as Amazon. US-based Quotient, the owner of Coupons.com, also acquired the Paris-headquartered cashback site Shopmium in 2017.
Clearly, investors are seeing lots of opportunities in cashback and loyalty marketing sites. With the global economic roller coaster ride thanks to the worldwide pandemic, we expect mergers and acquisitions to accelerate in the not too distant future.
GSG global growth continues
Gerhard Trautmann, co-founder and CEO of GSG said, “The acquisition of iGraal is another significant step on our way towards a new European champion. Our various consumer models enable us to reach millions of shoppers worldwide and help them to make smarter purchasing decisions. Together with our publishing partners, our holistic product offering can satisfy an even greater amount of consumers in their shopping journey.”
GSG and iGraal have more than six million members combined making it one of Europe’s largest cashback operators. GSG now operates consumer rewards, cashback, savings opportunities, and shopping content sites in 20 countries with brands including CupoNation, Kortingscode.nl, and BlogdeChollos
Its own content and e-commerce sites and partnerships with over 100 digital publishers generate more than two million purchases monthly. Partner publishers include Business Insider, Mail Online, L’Express, El Pais, Huffpost, and many other leading publishers and e-commerce partners around the world.
For more information regarding the leading global cashback companies including 450 profiles, check out the 2020 Global Cashback Report here.