A new cash-back rewards platform called Aisle is debuting in the U.S. this week, following a soft roll-out in April. It allows grocery shoppers to take a picture of their grocery receipt and text it for the additional savings.
There are plenty of retailers that will text coupons on their own, but this service is centered around the brands being sold by retailers. Aisle’s website also groups products in categories for their users to discover.
The selling point for consumers, and by extension marketers, is that the rewards come in the form of instant cash wired to a user’s Venmo account. And there’s no separate app to download, since Aisle discounts are triggered through text.
The tool was created by 25-year-old entrepreneur Chris Tiffin, who previously worked as Director of DTC Growth for Super Coffee. Now, Super Coffee is participating in Aisle’s program (and has joined Aisle’s board). Other participating brands include Halo Top, Utz, Tate’s Bake Shop Cookies and Beyond Meat. A twelve-pack of Bud Light Seltzer gets $5 cash back (limit, one 12-pack.)
Why we care: This kind of service allows marketers to tap younger consumers and avoid the perils of app retention. Gen Z is 153% more likely than the average consumer to sign up for discounts via SMS, according to one study we reported on this year.
And take a look at these low app retention rates broken down by category. Even digital banking apps only keep 10% of its users a month after download. Various shopping apps range from 5.6% to 8.7%. Obviously, Aisle is banking on Venmo’s retention rate being higher than the industry average.
We’ll stay tuned to see if this service gains traction with more CPG brands. As many as two-thirds of orgs are looking to integrate SMS into their strategy this year.
About The Author
Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country’s first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “innovation theater” at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.