I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist. 

– Tammy Faye Bakker

The husbands would like to disagree about it thanks to the increasing prices of everything, especially ‘women’s stuff’. Ah! Not being a female chauvinist but then wouldn’t all men like to agree on that part? But then maybe for once, they would have a reason to cheer!

“Let the lady shop while I can earn a few extra bucks. If nothing else, maybe it would pay the fuel charges that I waste when I have to drive her to that newly opened designer boutique at the end of the lane!”

That thought seems delightful! Doesn’t it? Here’s Cashkaro to the rescue. Before all the ladies out here start feeling left out and planning to stop reading this, rejoice because there is reason enough for you to continue your passion, your one-true love- Shopping.

By the way I came across women who detest shopping and would love to have someone else who does all the shopping for them. ( Does that make the men here drop their jaws? Well, I am serious and I am one of them too. No you may not try to pursue me.) Well jokes apart, we came across cashkaro.com and we were delighted. That’s when we thought of catching up with their team and we were lucky enough to have a tete a tete with Swati Bhargava, CEO & Cofounder of cashkaro.com.

How would you describe Cashkaro.com to a person who has just heard about it?

Swati Bhargava

Cashkaro is a Cashback and coupons website. We enable people to get maximum savings on anything they buy online, be it clothes, mobiles, books, travel or even mobile recharge. We work with 350+ top brands like Snapdeal, Myntra, Yatra, Dominos, Jabong etc.

If you go to any of these sites via Cashkaro and then shop, you get cash back on your purchase. Basically, the retailer pays us commission for every sale, and we give you cash back from this.

As an example, for going to, say Snapdeal via Cashkaro you can get 7.5% cash back on your purchase. Similarly you get Rs. 180 Cashback at Myntra, Rs. 282 at Jet Airways and so on. Even better, we give Cashback in addition to Coupons, ongoing Sales & discounts. The savings are amazing and one can save double at Cashkaro compared to all other coupon sites in India.

What was the motivation behind the idea of Cashkaro.com? How long did it take to put it together?

Cashback as a concept is very popular and successful in the West. Such websites are commonplace and widely used in the UK, US and Europe. With e-commerce booming big time in India, we thought why not bring this concept to India as well. We Indians love a bargain so we thought the response to Cashkaro will be good!

Before launching Cashkaro, we worked on its development and building partnerships for roughly six months and launched it in mid-April 2013. We are continuing to grow our retailer partner base and are now in fact being approached by many retailers themselves who want to get featured on Cashkaro.

What differentiates Cashkaro.com from the other portals?

What gives Cashkaro an edge over Coupon-only sites like Coupondunia is the added “cashback” element that a Cashkaro member can earn. While coupon-only sites provide coupons to their members, Cashkaro provides the same coupons too but with additional Cashback on top! This makes the savings from Cashkaro more than double compared to Coupon-only sites as new members can get both Cashback and coupons in one place. We believe that once you shop through Cashkaro you will never shop at a coupon site again. What sets Cashkaro apart is that we not only acknowledge positive feedback but also embrace negative feedback. We try our level best to convert these negativities and are always looking to deliver better.

How is the response from the customers?

The response from Cashkaro users has been phenomenal. Cashkaro members have already earned a lot of money and some frequent users have saved up to Rs. 15,000 too. Cashkaro’s  Facebook page boasts of over 2,50,000 fans. The comments, photos and interactions are also growing. We are currently expanding to other social media channels and are looking to make a mark soon throughout social media. Of course SEO, email marketing and other online initiatives are key pillars of our growth as well.

What challenges have you faced in your entrepreneurial journey? What has been the toughest decision you have had to make lately, if any?

I think the biggest challenge I have faced in my entrepreneurial journey has to be the challenge of finding the right people and putting together the perfect team.

For any business, and especially a start-up to succeed it is important to find a way to motivate everyone in the team and to instill the same passion in everyone that the founders have. We are really lucky that our team is absolutely awesome though.

The toughest decision I’ve had to make thus far has to be my decision to move to India. After spending 11 years in London, now that Cashkaro is doing well it is becoming increasingly important for me to be on the ground in India.

What are your plans for promoting Cashkaro.com? Also, do you have any tie-ups?

Cashkaro is a very social media friendly brand and this focus on social media is a key element of our growth strategy. We will continue promoting and building our Facebook channel and now we are also looking at various promotional partnerships. Of course, SEO, email marketing and other online initiatives are key pillars of our growth.

We are also looking to tie-up with large corporates and enable employees to save using Cashkaro. Cashkaro can help corporates save ‘big money’ and can also help employees by providing them benefits  from its offers and discounts.

Who would you say is your biggest competitor?

In the cashback space, our biggest competitor has to be Pennyful. While data for the same is not very easily available, I think do we have a larger online presence.

In the coupons space, Coupondunia is doing very well. They have been in the market longer than Cashkaro but of course our offering to members is better i.e. we give both Cashback and Coupons.

How do you see Cashkaro.com as in the next 5 years?

In the next 5 years, I see Cashkaro as India’s No.1 online destination for all kinds of discounts, offers, vouchers, etc. We are building towards this goal and are envisioning Cashkaro to maintain its market leader position over the next 5 years.

What more do you wish to include to take Cashkaro.com to the next level?

To take Cashkaro to the next level, we plan to tie-up with large corporates and also expand to other verticals too. Currently we are working with more than 350 online retailers and are contacted by more and more every day. We intend to take this number to a 1000 but are looking to do this in a streamlined and controlled manner so that we can bring value to each and every one of these 1000 partnerships. We are also looking at adding various other value added services for our members.

What are you most excited about at this moment regarding Cashkaro.com?

As of now what we are most excited about is the newly launched ‘restaurants’ discounts section’ for our Mumbai and Delhi audience. Saving on food is something I think every one of is looking for and soon we will have more partnerships in other cities of India too.

Cashkaro has a new e-mail marketing strategy which we are very keen to implement and play around with. We also have exciting contests and apps coming up for blogger, Facebook gaming apps too and more, so lots to look forward to! With all this excitement, Cashkaro is buzzing with enthusiasm and there is a lot of energy around each and every one of these projects.

Here’s wishing that your dream does come true soon! All the best to the team of Cashkaro.com.

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