Customer-focused site contains seven million products.
Innovation Birmingham Campus-based ScoPerks has launched a new price comparison site that has been 12 months in the making. Seven million products from over 600 retailers are featured on the site, which is focused on rewarding customer loyalty.
While online price comparison sites are becoming commonplace, beta.ScoPerks.com is differentiated from the competition by giving a proportion of each retailer referral fee to the customer. It does this by tracking order transactions and enabling customers to withdraw the credit placed into their ScoPerks account as cash, or use it towards the purchase of their next item.
Electronics and electrical goods account for the largest product segment on the site. Retailers with the most comprehensive product range on beta.ScoPerks.com include Amazon, BHS Direct, Currys/PC World, Dabs.com, Debenhams Plus, Disney Store, eBuyer, Halfords, Homebase, Marks & Spencer, Microsoft Store and Ticketmaster.
Radu Judele, Founder of ScoPerks said: “There is no doubt the prevalence of online comparison sites is rapidly increasing. We have spent the past 12 months developing a huge search engine of live products, with multiple ways that customers can filter the search, including length of warranty, ‘click and collect’, preferred retailers, vouchers and other perks, as well as the price. Once customers have made their decision and the transaction is processed, they receive a credit back into their ScoPerks account.
“The site is free to use, and with the money back credits it actually saves people money, compared to buying products direct from a retailer’s website.”
ScoPerks was accepted onto Innovation Birmingham’s Entrepreneurs for the Future programme in 2013. The programme’s Entrepreneurs in Residence have assisted with the development of the business plan, and the start-up has received some early-stage investment from a local angel investor.
Dr David Hardman MBE, CEO of Innovation Birmingham said: “ScoPerks is a great example of a tech start-up that has developed an innovative platform within a marketplace that is competitive, but has significant growth potential. The founder’s ambition, commercial drive and technical ability is exactly the combination we look for when welcoming new ventures onto the Entrepreneurs for the Future programme.”
The Entrepreneurs for the Future business incubation centre, provides bespoke mentoring and business planning to achieve investor readiness, as well as free telephone usage, 20Gbit/s broadband and office space for six months; a package which has a monetary value of £10,000. Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, e4f is unique to Birmingham and is specifically designed to harness and support the city’s burgeoning tech community.