40Tasks raises $357K to transform its flash deals app into an mcommerce platform

Hundreds of flash deals sites and apps have sprung up over the years. If you’re operating in this crowded space, how do you keep up? For Singapore’s LOCO, the key is to evolve.

40Tasks, the company behind LOCO, says it’s turning the hyperlocal flash deals app into an mcommerce platform that allows stores to take reservations and preorders, accept payments, and arrange deliveries.

Helping 40Tasks carry out this plan is a S$500,000 (US$ 357,000) seed funding from investors, led by Tri5 Ventures.

Currently, LOCO allows brick-and-mortar shops to advertise deals to people nearby. Say a product is going to go bad or it’s a lull period, a store owner could offer a deal that expires by stock or time.

LOCO does not take a commission off sales, but charges store owners based on the number of notifications sent out. Its packages start at US$30.

This makes it easier for stores to raise their sales, without the fear of recording losses or impacting their peak business hours.

“The merchant takes full control of the deal compared to previous arrangements like Groupon,” explains 40Tasks founder Zhi Peng Lee (he goes by ZP). “The merchant decides when the deal should be available and how many can be redeemed. They love it because the marketing is targeted to potential customers within the vicinity. All advertising options for flash deals are country wide and not focused, which lowers the marketing effectiveness of call-to-action for a sale.”

The 40Tasks team held a trial run with 20 shops at The Cathay and Orchard Cineleisure over three months. ZP says about 6,000 redemptions were made without any marketing. Since then, more stores have signed up, with the JP Pepperdine group of 27 outlets as the latest partner.

So how does the app benefit shoppers? “Everyone loves a deal, especially a good one that serves their needs on the spot,” says 40Tasks’ Jake Ooi. “Having a notification at the right time makes a decision easier.”

LOCO relies on location-based GPS triangulation to determine users’ locations and a machine learning algorithm to understand their preferences.

Tri5 Ventures managing partner Christopher Quek said, “the potential for LOCO lies in how merchants now have full control over targeting their deals and promotions on the mobile space. Promoting deals to users in the vicinity helps consumers save on purchases that they would likely have made anyway.”