It’s been an exciting month here at Ibotta HQ. After 12 years of dedication to our mission to Make Every Purchase Rewarding, Ibotta has entered a new era: We’re officially a publicly traded company!
Ibotta debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on April 18, marking a very special moment in both company and Colorado tech history. What started as a novel idea for harnessing the valuable information on shoppers’ receipts has evolved over time, transforming into a beloved consumer app and, more recently, a robust digital marketing platform for brands, retailers, and publishers. This IPO has validated all the hard work it took to get where we are today, and most importantly, positions us for a bright and rewarding future.
But for those who are just hearing about Ibotta for the first time, you may be wondering what it is that we really do and how the Ibotta Performance Network, in particular, can help businesses like yours thrive in an increasingly competitive retail landscape. So, here’s what you need to know about the IPN and what to expect from Ibotta in this next stage of growth.
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What is the IPN?
Most people who are familiar with Ibotta know of our consumer app. It arrived in 2012 with the goal of disrupting the traditional model of paper coupons and giving people cash back on everyday purchases. Since then, we’ve grown our reach to more than 200 million American consumers and have delivered more than $1.8 billion in cash-back rewards. But much of that growth is thanks in part to our white-labeled solution, which powers the rewards programs of some of the largest and fastest growing retailers in the country: the Ibotta Performance Network (IPN).
Launched in 2021, the IPN is a technology platform designed to empower brands, retailers, and publishers to influence where consumers shop and what they buy. By enabling brands to distribute their promotions across an ever-growing network of third-party retailers and publishers — like Walmart and Family Dollar — Ibotta has created a dynamic rewards ecosystem that gives brands access to unprecedented performance marketing scale and publishers access to the digital offer content consumers demand.
Who uses the IPN?
As the retail space and consumer buying behaviors continue to evolve, marketers must find new and innovative ways to deliver consumers the experiences and prices they demand. At its core, the Ibotta Performance Network is designed to meet the unique and changing needs of these marketers, serving two main types of clients: brands and retailers/publishers.
| Brands
At a time when inflation continues to cut into consumers’ budgets and private label brands are capturing more and more market share, consumer engagement and loyalty is paramount. The Ibotta Performance Network aims to address these pain points — and more — by arming brands with the data to better understand consumers and fine-tune the performance of their marketing campaigns in real time. Our unique approach ensures that every dollar marketers spend on their campaigns works effectively and drives measurable — and attributable — revenue. And this is why more than 2,400 brands work with us.
From consumer packaged goods and general merchandise to the media agencies that represent these brands, Ibotta collaborates with established household names and emerging brands alike to bring scale and efficiency to their performance marketing campaigns.
When brands run digital promotions on the Ibotta Performance Network, they have the opportunity to reach 91% of American households and more than 200 million consumers through a pay-per-sale model. This means that they never pay for clicks, clips, or impressions — only actual units moved. The IPN also enables advertisers to drive and measure incremental sales in-store and online while receiving comprehensive data on sales, redemptions, and CPUM broken out by retailer to evaluate and refine their digital media strategies.
| Retailers & publishers
When it comes to the needs of our retailer and publisher partners, it’s all about driving customer acquisition and loyalty. Consumers today are on the hunt for great prices and will shop at whichever grocer or retailer offers them the best deals. By providing our partners with four times the number of national CPG offers than the leading competitor, retailers and publishers can drive more than $2,500 in average daily savings into their loyalty programs via the IPN.
More than 1,000 retailers and publishers leverage the IPN as a simple and efficient way to build a rewards program. This includes industry-leading retailers like Walmart, Dollar General, and Family Dollar as well as publishers like AppCard, which distributes national offer content to 2,000 stores across 375 independent grocers and retailers.
Publishers don’t have to spend their limited resources on finding and funding promotions or on building the infrastructure to support them — the IPN does all of that through its rewards as a service platform.
What makes the IPN unique?
The IPN’s secret sauce lies in its ability to help consumers, brands, and retailers succeed. As more brands leverage the IPN to support their marketing strategies, retailers and publishers can build greater loyalty and drive more deals to their customers. And as we add more retailers and publishers to the IPN, we have the ability to reach more consumers, helping them save at more of the places they like to shop. Keeping this flywheel turning ensures everyone wins with the IPN.
For many of our customers, the unique value of the IPN lies in Ibotta’s 10+ years of expertise in the performance marketing space and the data-driven insights our platform provides.
Much of this data comes from our best-in-class receipt scanning technology and fraud detection, which process 19 million transactions each month. This provides us — and our clients — with a treasure trove of carefully vetted information about what, when, where, and how consumers shop every day. From broad industry trends to category-specific insights, Ibotta’s ability to give brands and retailers the most relevant, accurate, and up-to-date information about their industries has continuously set us apart from the competition.
Pairing this data with Ibotta’s deep industry knowledge, allows us to consult our clients and help them develop winning strategies that enable them to optimize their marketing campaigns and increase consumer engagement.
What’s next for the IPN?
As we step into life as a public company, Ibotta will continue to help brands and retailers positively impact the American consumer in the same way we always have — just on a much larger scale.
In the months and years ahead, we’ll work to bring consumers an even wider array of deals on everyday purchases by partnering with more of the apps, retailers, delivery services, social networks, and websites that they know and love.
This next phase of growth will also mean doubling down on innovation and investments in our technology. With the growing need to personalize the shopping experience in real time, we’re continuing to enhance our AI capabilities and leveraging our massive repository of data to develop new features and tools to support and delight our clients.
To stay up to date with all the latest Ibotta Performance Network news and to learn more about the many ways we’re helping brands, retailers, and publishers win in an ever-evolving retail landscape, sign up for our newsletter.
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