Net-a-Bargain business idea

1. Brought to you by

2.  Net-a-Bargain is a “money saving” digital business, launching in January 2014.
 We identified a lucrative opportunity caused by the global economic downturn within the retail coupon market.
 This market is worth an estimated £30bn in the UK alone. JP Morgan estimates that there are 200 voucher code sites in the
UK, 500 in the US and a massive 2,000 in China. Although there are some well-established companies in this highly competitive
market, the market is very fragmented and no single company offers a complete money saving solution. This represents an
attractive opportunity for us. We stand to make an estimated £326K in the first year alone.
 Net-a-Bargain shall mainly generate revenue through affiliate commission & advertising
 We will also generate revenue through paid product placements on the website, App and community assets.
 Our clients our people described as the “squeezed middle”, who work but find it difficult to make their earnings go far enough.
A problem that is compounded by the stagnation in wages increases.
 We aim to attract, engage, convert and retain customers by building and leveraging social media communities and also by
taking advantage of opportunities we identified in both paid and natural search.
 Net-a-Bargain aims to be the single largest online resource offering money saving advice & devices (i.e. coupons, vouchers,
‘money off’ deals) to its members.
This document illustrates how we intend to achieve this.

3.  According to Enders Analysis, the retail coupon market is worth £30bn in the UK alone. It is an even larger market
in the US worth $280bn (£173bn) a year.
 This is a growing market. A recent study by Forrester Research, found that the frequency of use of online voucher
codes is increasing. Some other findings from the study included:
 Overall, 66% of UK online voucher code users indicated that they were likely to use more voucher codes in the next year
versus only 8% who said that they would be unlikely to do so.
 In addition, 42% of all online voucher code users and 50% of those under the age of 32 said that they expected to use
voucher codes on 25% or more of all their online purchases.
 Besides Forrester’s findings, the retail industry itself is very upbeat about the use and value of coupons as
demonstrated by the following quotes:
“We’re up 23% against last year on our affiliate program spending. Voucher code use was massive for us last year,
and it’s going to be even bigger for us this year” Digital marketing manager, multichannel retailer
“Our use of voucher codes has grown tremendously in the past year or two, and we expect it to continue growing
for the foreseeable future” Affiliate marketing manager, multichannel retailer

4.  The trend for people searching for deals
online can be illustrated with Google Trends
data for terms like vouchers, coupons and
voucher codes
 Searches for voucher codes and related
terms began increasing from 2007 onwards

5.  According to Adwords there are approximately 246,000 monthly searches for
the term voucher codes and the competition is medium
 Similarly there are a wide range of related keywords with substantial search
volume (some examples right), for example opportunities such as vouchercodes
which has 33,100 monthly searches and low competition
 There are also opportunities to optimize the site and appear in the SERPs for
long tail search queries for which there is very little competition:

6. Voucher Codes
e.g. VoucherCloud
• (+) Offer a very wide variety of deals
• (+) Have over 2m monthly visitors to their website
• (+) High visibility on multiple app platforms and
across social media
• (-) Their offering is limited to deals/vouchers
Cash Back
e.g. Quidco
Money Saving Tips
e.g. Money Saving Expert
• (+) Brilliant money-saving advice platform
• (+) Loyal and significant community
• (+) Good reputation in the market
• (-) Viewed mainly as an information source, and
not as a ‘deals’ website
Spot Deals:
e.g. Groupon
• (+) The market leading coupon and deals website
with over 42.6 million active customers
• (-) Offer a limited variety of deals
• (-) Low customer retention rate
• (-) Sustaining severe profit losses
The Money Saving Market:
 Highly competitive market
 High growth rate over the last few years
 Many established companies already offering
deals and discount offers
Diners Club
e.g. Tester Club
Group A
Price Comparison
e.g. Price Runner
=>
The market is very fragmented
and there is no single company
that offers a complete solution
that includes the best money
saving advice and tools

7. Net-a-Bargain
Net-a-Bargain takes a fragmented market place and
brings together the best money saving advice and tools
(i.e. vouchers, coupons etc) for its members.
Overview
Competitive Advantage
Defensibility
• The single largest source for all your money saving needs.
• Making saving money simple and helping members enjoy
great bargains.
• Support for customers – through peer-to-peer and expert
reviews.
• Support for merchants selling vouchers – through
customer loyalty and retention planning tools.
• Offers its members a combination of the best money
saving tips, discounted offers and user generated deals
• Facilitates social sharing of content
• Contracts with financial experts who write for us
• Contracts with review websites
• No one else currently support merchants with loyalty and
customer retention tools
• We offer a mixture of peer and expert reviews on deals

8. The Cost of Developing the Business
Initial Start Up Costs
£140,000
£120,000
£100,000
£80,000
£60,000
£40,000
£20,000
£0
• In order to facilitate the growth of the business, we will need a live database for merchandise, transactional data and customer data,
etc.
• The front end of the website will need to be as fast as our competitors. Page load times are key for maintaining conversion rates. User
experience (UX) is a top priority.
• Our mobile product, the mobile website and mobile app will be developed with the desktop site.
• We will also make use of web crawlers that will scrape selected websites for our desired information.
• We are asking for an initial investment of £274,437.

9. Affiliate Revenue Model
Assuming the business begins trading on 1st January 2014, we aim to generate 100,000 unique visits in month 1. We expect to be able to
grow monthly visits by 5% per month. Initially we estimate a conversion rate of 15%, topping out at 20% by month 6.
We assume an average order value of £50 per conversion. Our revenue comes from a commission of retailer GMV. We will use affiliate
networks and negotiate affiliate deals with retails themselves. During the first 13 months we will grow our average commission rate
from 15% to 20%.
Our projected revenue is calculated as visits x average conversion rate x average order value. Projected revenue is initially £112,500 in
month 1 and increases to £359,171 by month 13. During this 13 month period, our revenue will total £3,243,846.
Project 13 Month Revenue and Commission Rate
Projected 13 Month Conversions and Conversion Rate
Monthly Conversions
AVG Conversion Rate
Monthly Revenue
40,000
25%
35,000
20%
30,000
25,000
15%
20,000
10%
15,000
10,000
5%
5,000
-
0%
Sum of AVG Commission
£400,000
£350,000
£300,000
£250,000
£200,000
£150,000
£100,000
£50,000
£-
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Jan
1
Jan
1
Jan

10. Projected 13 Month Combined Spend
Marketing Spend
Monthly Employee Costs
Monthly Average Salary
Monthly No. Staff
£45,000
£40,000
£35,000
£30,000
£25,000
£20,000
£15,000
£10,000
£5,000
£-
Projected 13 Month PPC and Display Spend
PPC Spend
Monthly Operating Costs
Display Spend
£300,000
£250,000
£200,000
£150,000
£100,000
£50,000
£Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Jan
13
Our projected 13 month revenue will be driven by the number of site visits. We
will grow our monthly visits with PPC and display advertising. Our monthly PPC
and display spend will average 76% of revenue. Month 1 marketing spend will be
£87,188, increasing to £265,103 by month 13.
During this period, expect our CPC to increase from £0.39 to £3.88 and our CPA to
increase from £3.88 to £7.75.
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
1
Jan
1
12
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
We expect to be able to hire one new employee every four months. By
month 14, we should be able to raise our average salary to £40,000 from
£18,000
Projected Profitability by Month
Net Take
Profit
£300,000
Profitability Target
£200,000
£100,000
• With an initial investment of £274,437, we expect to be profitable as early
as month 11, if our aforementioned financial targets are met and if we
divert our net take to reducing our debt.
• Our net take is calculated as revenue – marketing spend – employee costs
– operating costs.
£1
-£100,000
-£200,000
-£300,000
-£400,000
-£500,000
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

11. Our customers are savvy shoppers
looking to save money
Primary Audience
Secondary Audience
Bargain hunters falling into
the upper-middle and
middle income bracket (i.e.
AB consumers).
Their Needs
To make their money go further
Definition
People described as ‘the
squeezed middle’ or low to
middle income group (LMI).
Our Proposition
The one-stop shop for saving money
online
Consist of:
10.1 million adults and 5.8
million households
Wealthier, but very budget
conscious shoppers
One third of the working
age population
Skilled professionals
What Influences Them
Word of mouth, reviews and peer
recommendations
Average household income
= £20,500 after tax
Earn less than the median
wage, but more
than the bottom 10%

12. 1. Situation
2. Objectives:
•
•
•
•
Vision – Become the number 1 destination online for UK shoppers who
want to save money on their shopping and other expenses.
About 500 competitors, a few with a strong presence
Very fragmented market place
None offering all money saving devices in one places
Main players – Hotukdeals, Vouchercodes,
Moneysavingexpert, Groupon, etc
Net-a-Bargain:
• A start-up
• No brand presence, website or any other digital assets
Mission – Bring money saving information & resources under one roof
making it easier, faster & simpler for customers to save money online or
offline.
Key Business Objectives:
• Create brand awareness
• Create subscriber base
• Build communities on social networks
• Engage with users on mobile devices
Goals:
• Reinforce brand message through online advertising
• Grow visitor numbers to website
• Build fan base on Social Media sites
• Generate subscribers on website
• Grow app downloads and awareness
• Create & grow subscriber base
• Build & Grow revenue

13. 3. Strategy:
3. Strategy:
3.1 Strategy: target segments
3.3 Strategy: content marketing
Targeting people based on The Resolution Foundation definition:
 New website, new blog, new online communities – Facebook Page, Twitter
channel, G+, Pinterest
 2 blog posts each week sharing other money saving tips, useful information
 Develop 4 infographics and videos about saving money online, economic impact of
the economic downturn and how to survive it.
 Daily posts on social media platforms with fresh useful/helpful content.
 “The Squeezed Middle”
 “None-Squeezed Middle” – other bargain hunters (savvy
internet shoppers)
3.2 Strategy: value proposition
Brand positioning:
One-stop shop for online savings, offering relevant, accurate, upto-date listings of money saving devices and advices.
Being innovative, making it faster, easier & simpler to save money
online, offering a massive variety of saving devices,
customers can always find what they are after.
Product: All money saving devices – coupons, vouchers, etc.
Pricing: Members register free, coupons listed free, paid for
placement, featured products paid for
Place: Website, Social Media forums, App.
3.4 Strategy: communications strategy
Priority acquisition channels:
 Paid Search Advertising - Google AdWords & Yahoo!/Bing search advertising
 Paid Display Advertising – use display advertising to raise brand awareness,
featuring lucrative offers
 Quickly build Email list and send regular emails based on member preferences
 Build social media community memberships – Facebook fans, Twitter followers, G+
members, by posting regularly.
Priority retention activities:
 Monthly newsletters to members featuring the month’s best offers and general
monthly saving tips
 Daily hot offers on all social communities and other relevant money saving
information.
 Encouraging members to rate offers, share offers and recommend deals to others

14. 4. Tactics:
5. Actions: (site, app, communities building
Reach:
 SEO focusing on long tail keywords, “where there is little competition
and ability to rank fast in the search engine result pages (SERPs)
 PPC (Pay per click) focusing on keywords with little or no competition.
 Leverage cheap traffic from display networks to raise brand awareness
and entice them with irresistible offers.
 Build and leverage online communities – Facebook pages, Twitter feed,
G+ community, Pinterest board.
activities, etc)
Act:
 New regional landing pages
 Build & develop crawler/scrapper
 Refine onsite search facility
Within 90 days launch website, app, create online communities and
start online advertising
• Q1: Fine tune web crawler/scrapper, focus on SEO efforts
• Q2: Start trialling regional offerings
• Q3. Sign affiliate deals with partner companies
• Q4. Launch of “Festive Season” Campaign
6. Control: (Review performance through
measurement and analysis)
•
Convert:
 New member free gift offered via email, triggered by online sign-up
Engage:
• Monthly newsletter, tailored by customer preferences
• Make Facebook, Twitter, G+ & Pinterest pages active, by posting regular
informative and useful content.
•
•
•
Q1: Setup measurement & tracking for weekly review and
improvement
Q2: Q1 results review
Q3: Launch conversion rate optimisation (CRO) campaigns – user
testing, etc.
Q4: Implement results from CRO campaigns.

15.  Net-a-Bargain offers a lot in terms of investment –
 Not only is the company founded on a clear consumer insight, it is based upon new consumer behaviour (deal
searching and voucher using) that has grown up during this current period of recession. Whilst some elements
of the recession have lifted, others, including how wealthy people feel, have not improved. Therefore, for the
foreseeable future, this behaviour is commonplace and entrenched into how many of us shop.
 Our company revenue stream is secure and profitability is planned to be £326,889 in our first year. We have
begun from the position of a lean start up to minimize costs and maximize profit, crucial to the viability of the
company as an investment.
 The company is the first in the marketplace to offer this comprehensive money saving service. Therefore we can
take a strong position in the field and steal consumers from other less-comprehensive websites.
 We feel that by investing in Net-a-Bargain you would be investing in a future-proofed, stable and lean business
that would expose you to current behavioural trends, whilst maximising your profit.

16. Princely Bibi | Layla Brook | Julian Tozer | Elena Bostan
Sophie Christiansen | Sarah-jane Thomas | Adrian Ng