One App for all your shopping needs: Flash.co is aimed at power shoppers

Supplemented by technology, shoppers are increasingly turning into power shoppers. These are the kind of shoppers who shop roughly 100 to 150 times from across different marketplaces in a year. These shoppers are scattered across categories such as travel, beauty, food, grocery and even hyper-local e-commerce.

Power  shoppers vs promotional mails

In his research, Boyanapalli found out that power shoppers in India face three to four problems, and the issue of promotional spam was a rampant problem. “Any merchant from anywhere I shop, keeps sending me four emails every week. We did some research and found that practically almost 60 to 70 per cent of our Gmail is filled with shopping communication. And out of that, almost 80 per cent is promotional in nature and only 20 per cent is about transactions,” he said.

The entrepreneur felt that most merchants who swamped with his emails were unaware of the kind of comprehensive powershopper that he was. He added that most of them were giving minimal value. And, this is perhaps the biggest motivation behind Flash.co. “The vision of Flash is to unlock the power of shopping data to create value to consumers,” he said.

Other issues that cropped up in his research were, brands and their inability to find out the lifetime value of the Customer Acquisition Cost (CACs) and the inability of shoppers to keep track of their spending.

How does Flash.co work?

Users simply need to update their email id with their first name followed by @flash.co, for example, abc@flash.co, at the shopping app of their choice. Users can continue to log in with their phone numbers every time they access that app. Essentially, a user is now using a Flash id instead of their Gmail, and they can go on to shop the usual way from the app. In case they wanted to use coupons, earlier they could only use coupons that were offered by that app.

But, with Flash, users can accumulate coupons and use them regardless of the apps. Unlike Gmail, Flash.co also offers two per cent additional cash bank on the final amount a user pays. Boyanapally claims that the company is offering the world’s first identity-based offers on payments. The app will showcase all mails at one place, making it easier for users to organize mails related to shopping. It is also a great way to keep track of one’s shopping habits and spending patterns.

Talking about flash perks, Boyanapalli used the example of Kama Ayurveda, where users using their Flash email ID are able to get a 5 per cent cashback. Following the purchase, 50 tokens are immediately credited to the user’s account and these can be converted using UPI. Similarly, while using the Bombay Shaving Company, users get a six per cent additional cashback without any coupons, links, or cookies.

A win-win for brands and consumers

Since the extensive use of promotional emails is a marketing strategy by brands and if it deterred the companies from collaborating with Flash. To this, Boyanappali said that brands were looking forward to tying up with Flash since they were building a community of power shoppers. The company also has the necessary encryption and safeguards deployed to ensure that all consumer data is secure.

Flash.co was built by a team of 13 engineers under Boyanapalli, and the team comprises former executives from Swiggy, Cult, etc. The team created the unique application in less than a year’s time. Another interesting facet of the application is that it fetches information from a user’s email to assess their shopping behaviour and offer tailored options to their feeds. “It is the first of its kind product in the world and is definitely a good innovation for India,” said Boyanapalli, who aims to take the app global.