A simple idea of saving a few rupees on their books purchase among two International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad students led to the birth of an idea that now helps online shoppers get cash back apart from bargaining power in their purchases.
Jeevan Mandadapu and Muralidhar Konda, Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) students of IIIT Hyderabad have started a website - Shoppers Express (http://shoppersexpress.in) - which allows online shoppers to save money on all the purchases they make from online stores and services like Amazon, Myntra, Jabong, Food Panda, Dominos, KFC and over 200 other sites across India.
“Shoppers Express has affiliated with these online shopping stores and provides a platform for them to reach the online customers. Shoppers Express thus gets revenue on each purchase from these stores. A good amount from that revenue is given to the customers as cash back,” says Jeevan, who is the CEO.
“Students like me buy a lot of stuff online. We spend around 20k each semester on personal expenses like stationary, food and clothes, besides the usual tuition and hostel fee. If we could get at least 5 per cent off on that, which is around Rs. 1,000, it would cover our stationary expenses for the entire semester,” says the second year ECE student.
“Moreover, we would love it if we could get an extra book for free on purchasing five books, a good discount on a fifth pizza on buying four of them. I mean who doesn’t love free stuff,” says Muralidhar Konda, who is the Chief Marketing Officer.
Flexible and comfortable
They say students or employees don’t always have the luxury of buying at an offline retail store. Online shopping gives the flexibility, choice and comfort they need.
“Shoppers Express now has a reach in IITs, BITS, etc. besides our college through friends and acquaintances. We recently hit the mark of 2,500 registered users,” says Jeevan. It has thousands of followers on Facebook as well.
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