ShopBack doubles revenue in FY 2021, trims operating losses

ShopBack, the Temasek-backed shopping and rewards platform, more than doubled its group revenue to US$40.1 million in the financial year (FY) ending March 31, 2021, according to its ACRA filings.

Present in 10 markets across Asia Pacific, the company is “in the early stages of preparing for public readiness,” a spokesperson from ShopBack Group says. It operates various subsidiaries in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, among others.

Between FY 2020 and 2021, gross billings rose while spending on user incentives dropped. The company’s operating losses also narrowed by 34.8% to -US$23.9 million.

The Covid-19 pandemic signficantly drove down travel billings in FY 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the spokesperson. However, as retailers and direct-to-consumer brands adopted digital sales channels, “customers turned to platforms like ShopBack for their day-to-day transactions.”

Market expansion efforts, including the launch of its services in South Korea and Vietnam, as well as a new voucher feature in Singapore and Australia, gave customers and merchant partners new ways to engage with the platform, the spokesperson notes.

Major new revenue source

While the firm started as a cashback business primarily making affiliate marketing fees, it has since forayed into financial services.

Earlier this year, it launched payments feature ShopBack Pay and a buy now, pay later service called ShopBack PayLater, which followed its acquisition of Singapore-based BNPL firm Hoolah in November 2021.

Photo credit: ShopBack

However, since the Hoolah deal took place after the close of FY 2021, its impact was not reflected in ShopBack’s financial statement for the year.

A growing part of ShopBack’s business comes from the sale of digital vouchers, which it purchases from merchants and sells to users on its platform.

In FY 2021, income from voucher sales accounted for the bulk of revenues at US$20.8 million. The voucher feature was rolled out in Singapore and Australia in FY 2021, and this was the first year that ShopBack recorded such revenue.

The next largest revenue contributor was commission income, which jumped by 11.7% year on year to US$16 million in FY 2021. This refers to ShopBack’s core business of generating sales for its partner merchants by enticing consumers with cashbacks via click-through links on its mobile app or website.

Expenses analysis

Market-wise breakdown

Cash balances