By scanning and uploading their receipts, registered users of Fetch Rewards have the opportunity to earn rewards in the form of gift cards and cashback on their purchases. In addition to interchange fees, the brands it partners with also pay Fetch Rewards affiliate commissions. Fetch Rewards will be discussed for you in this article. Please keep reading.
What Are Fetch Rewards?
With the help of the service Fetch Rewards, customers can get free gift cards and cash back when they make purchases at particular retail establishments.
Founded in 2012 by Wes Schroll, Fetch Rewards now has over 13 million active users which led to more than $150 billion in US retail sales for its partnering stores, making it one of the most downloaded rewards apps in Google Play and the Apple App Store.
History Of Fetch Rewards
By scanning their receipts, users of the online shopping platform Fetch Rewards can earn rewards. Tyler Kennedy, Daniel Litvak, and current CEO Wes Schroll founded the platform in 2013.
When Schroll was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he had the concept for Fetch Rewards. Schroll started stocking his own refrigerator and pantry the summer after his first year on campus, bidding farewell to the university dining halls and meal plans. As a result, he began to receive promotional offers from businesses that wanted to thank him for his business.
Schroll pondered whether he could turn this conventional business model on its head, picturing a situation in which businesses would have to pass hurdles in order to demonstrate their commitment to customers. This would be made possible by an app that allowed customers to scan their grocery receipts and earn points whenever they bought something from a partner brand.
Tyler Kennedy and Schroll, both 19 years old, worked together to raise $185,000 in cash, office space, and legal services over the course of just over six weeks in the second half of the academic year. Schroll soon left school to focus solely on Fetch Rewards. Four years later, in 2017, the app was finally released.
Over 7 million active users were scanning 50 receipts per second on Fetch Rewards during the global coronavirus pandemic, which saw rapid growth. After securing $210 million in Series D funding in March 2021, the business achieved unicorn status and announced plans to grow internationally and into additional verticals like quick-service restaurants.
What Does Fetch Rewards Do?
A platform for consumer retail rewards is called Fetch Rewards. To earn gift cards and cash back, users must first register on the website and then begin scanning their purchase receipts.
Numerous retailers, stores, online marketplaces, and corporate partners are partners with Fetch Rewards. By referring clients to them through its network of registered users, the company pays these partners a commission.
Participants can link their email or Amazon account to their profile for online shopping with the Fetch Rewards eReceipts program. Each receipt that a user uploads to the website earns them points based on its value. E-tailers like Amazon, Walmart, Shipt, Target, Costco, and Instacart are among those that are taking part.
How Do Fetch Rewards Work?
A mobile shopping network run by Fetch Rewards offers rewards to users who make purchases from their preferred merchants and brands. By uploading receipt scans, users of the Android or iOS app can earn points.
Affiliate commissions from its partner retailers support the Fetch Rewards business model. Users take pictures of their receipts and upload them to the user-friendly platform.
The image recognition AI of Fetch Rewards recognizes qualifying receipts and awards the user with points as compensation for using the platform.
The company offers points for a wide range of services and products, including purchases at liquor, pet, and hardware stores as well as at grocery, drug, and convenience stores. It also offers points for filling up at specific gas stations.
How Does Fetch Rewards Make Money?
In addition to interchange fees, the brands it partners with also pay Fetch Rewards affiliate commissions. In the section below, let’s examine each of these sources of income more closely.
Affiliate Commission
The majority of Fetch Rewards’ income is derived from affiliate commissions, also known as referral fees, that are paid by its partners.
Every time a shopper purchases one of their products, those businesses pay to Fetch. The remainder of that revenue is then paid to Fetch Rewards.
The contract that Fetch and its brand partner signed will determine the precise percentage share. Similar services are provided by organizations like Upside (previously GetUpside) and Ibotta.
Brands would pay Fetch Rewards for those purchases for a few different reasons.
The platform is the only place where they are advertised initially. For instance, Fetch Rewards wouldn’t partner with Coca-Cola while simultaneously promoting Pepsi products.
Second, it can be difficult to evaluate the efficiency and return on investment due to the opaque nature of data from conventional marketing channels like TV and billboards. Purchases on Fetch Rewards are always connected to the specific brand.
Brands can then determine which of their products performs best by obtaining an aggregated view of a shopper’s behavior (Fetch Rewards won’t share any personal data).
Third, by increasing the number of points earned, brands can advertise particular products. After all, frequent purchases of a particular product category will eventually result in greater client loyalty and brand awareness.
After that, users can interact with the platform in ways other than just reclaiming their points. For instance, they can donate their points to good causes or participate in special giveaways.
Furthermore, Fetch Rewards has introduced an exclusive membership called Fetch Club, which grants users access to clubs like Huggies Rewards or General Mills Good Rewards
Once more, the intention is to encourage users to use the platform for additional purposes, which will enable Fetch Rewards to monetize users across a range of touch points.
Interchange Fees
Fetch introduced its very own debit card in late 2020, enabling users to accrue points when making purchases.
The Fetch Pay debit card, which bears the Mastercard logo, functions just like any other debit card. Anywhere Mastercard is accepted, customers can use the card.
One and Fetch Rewards are working together to handle compliance and customer support.
When you use your credit card to make a purchase, an interchange fee is charged. The merchant is responsible for paying exchange fees, which are typically under 1%. In this instance, Mastercard would be the one to charge the fee.
Then, as payment for promoting the card among its users, Fetch Rewards would get a portion of that fee. The precise percentage share is not made available to the general public.
Along with other benefits like fee-free ATM withdrawals, direct deposit of paychecks, or a 3 percent annual percentage yield, Fetch also offers debit cards to further bind its users to the ecosystem.
Fetch Rewards made the decision to stop offering Fetch Pay in July 2022. However, it still makes money through the aforementioned interchange fees, at least for the time being.
Future Growth Engine
The rewards industry is where Fetch wants to be the leader. The business has offices in Madison, Chicago, San Francisco, and Chicago, where 500 people are employed. 2020 saw the platform experience mass adoption, with consumers using the platform to save money during the financial strain caused by the pandemic.
Users’ recommendations, which result in new registrations for the business, account for the majority of Fetch Reward’s market expansion.
To attract new members, it uses a word-of-mouth marketing strategy. Restaurants and gas stations have joined the program as the Fetch Rewards management continues to grow its retail partnerships.
