Type of site Cashback website Alexa rank 4,717 (December 2015) Launched May 2005 | Website www.quidco.com Registration Required | |
Quidco is a cashback website based in the UK, with offices in Sheffield and London. The site takes the commission (termed "cashback") usually paid by retailers to third-party referrers and passes it on to Quidco members.
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There are two tiers of membership: Basic and Premium members. The service is free for Basic members. Premium members have their first £5 cashback retained to qualify for enhanced levels of customer service and a range of offers from faster paying retailers.
As well as online cashback offers, Quidco provides its members with a range of deals that can be redeemed when shopping on the highstreet. Members just add their 16-digit card numbers from debit and credit cards to register, then shop as normal to receive cashback rates on in-store purchases.
In November 2012, Quidco became the first UK company to offer cashback on grocery shopping. Quidco ClickSnap offers shoppers a wide range of supermarket cashback deals on household items – both online and in-store – in a variety of top UK retailers, including Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose.
History
Paul and Jennifer Nikkel co-founded Quidco whilst studying at the University of Sheffield in 2005 as a way of saving students money as they shopped online. The website launched in Sheffield in May 2005, with the London office opening in 2007.
The company has grown rapidly in the past few years, and as of September 2013, has over 3.5 million members. As of September 2013, over 100 members of staff are employed across the two sites in London and Sheffield.
Business model
John Stevens in The Observer explains:
The idea of cashback sites is relatively simple. You register with one of the many sites out there and when you buy online you visit the same retailers as usual, but via a link on your chosen cashback site. When you make a purchase, the retailer pays a commission to your cashback site, who in turn gives you a cut of the money.
Quidco uses affiliate networks in order to track transactions with retailers and to allot the cashback to the correct Quidco member. Logged-in Quidco members get cashback on their purchases when they click from Quidco to a retailer's site and carry out a transaction; the amount of cashback available can either be a fixed sum or a percentage of the order value. In June 2011, Which? published an article claiming that debt-management companies were targeting Quidco customers. However generally Quidco has gained media praise.