ShopBack expands to South Korea with Ebates Korea buy

ShopBack announced that it has acquired online cashback platform Ebates Korea, marking its expansion into South Korea.

The announcement comes shortly after ShopBack secured US$30 million in a top-up led by Temasek to expand into Asia.

Photo credit: ShopBack Korea

Starting today, Rakuten’s Ebates Korea will cease operations and its users will be directed to the ShopBack Korea beta platform, which will be officially launched by mid-2020, according to a statement.

ShopBack said that shoppers could earn up to 15% cashback on their purchases via the ShopBack Korea platform across categories like fashion, beauty, and electronics.

Following the acquisition, ShopBack expects to serve over 500,000 customers in South Korea this year. It will also attract more merchants, including local ones such as ecommerce platform Gmarket, social commerce platform Wemakeprice, and online mall 11Street.

“South Korea’s digitally mature mindset and rapid adoption of ecommerce makes it a core and high-potential market for cashback platforms,” said Henry Chan, CEO and co-founder of ShopBack.

According to Statista, South Korea is one of the biggest ecommerce markets worldwide, where the retail ecommerce will grow to nearly US$32.6 billion by 2021, up from US$19.1 billion in 2016.

“Launching ShopBack Korea will be a major step forward for us in fulfilling our mission to create a world of smarter shoppers,” Chan added.

Launched in 2014, Singapore-based ShopBack is a one-stop rewards and discovery platform for users to earn cashback. It also provides performance-based marketing for merchants. It partners with ecommerce merchants across categories, including general merchandise, travel bookings, fashion, health and beauty, groceries, and food delivery.

To date, ShopBack said it has expanded its reach to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, and Australia, awarding US$100 million in cashback to its users.