Who doesn’t like a cashback on their daily purchases? Who doesn’t like extra money in their pockets on every transaction? This is what discount apps do!
The discount apps trend has led to the birth of many top cashback apps like Upside in the market. Formerly known as GetUpside, Upside is one of the top cashback point apps that facilitates discount & cashback rewards on each transaction at grocery, restaurants, and gas stations. The idea instantly became a hit in the market among public, leaving people wondering ‘how does upside make money’.
According to the company, Upside helps around 30 million people save over $2 billion on purchases every year. That is Huge!!!
The idea is still new to the market and there have not been many improvements to the concept yet. For anyone thinking of launching a similar app, there is no better time than ‘Today’. The post will uncover everything you need to know about Upside, including the monetization strategies, how does the upside app work, how to build an app like Upside, and the cost. Let’s start with the basics first, i.e. what is Upside App?
| Key Takeaways |
|---|
| Upside is a cashback app that allows users to earn cashback points on purchasing from over 50,000 locations across the United States. |
| The platform facilitates cashback across gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores in the USA |
| Users can save up to 45% on every grocery or restaurant purchase and up to 25 cents per gallon gas |
| The average cost to build apps like Upside is between $15000 and $60000, based on app complexity and design |
Upside is a cashback app that allows users to earn cashback points on purchasing from over 50,000 locations across the United States. The app was founded in 2015 and launched in December 2016 by two former Google employees, Wayne Lin and Alex Kinner (CEO). The app’s founding team also includes Joanna Kochaniak, Rick McPhee, and Jan Rubio. The platform has partnered with some of the largest petrol, grocery and restaurant companies in the USA.
The platform is free to use and available in the majority of US states. The software allows you to search through available locations. The idea of the cash-back program is to assist companies in drawing in more clients while providing clients with a discount on their purchases, therefore benefiting both parties in the partnership.
| Stats & Facts – Cashback & Upside Market |
|---|
| As of July 2020, the overall cashback market size is valued over $110 Billion |
| On average, cashback platforms and websites grow the order amount/size by as much as 46% |
| Cashback platforms and websites increase the conversion by up to 3.4X |
| In April 2022, Upside has raised about $265 million across six rounds of equity and debt funding |
| The platform is currently valued over $1.5 billion after the latest $165 million funding round |
| Some of the top investors of GetUpside are Saudi Aramco Energies, Capital One Growth Ventures, Builders VC, and Formation 8 |
You can get cash back by dining at participating restaurants and shopping at participating grocery shops in addition to saving money at the pump with Upside:
| Gas Stations: Over 25,000 gas stations nationwide, including all the major brands including Shell, Valero, BP, Phillips 66, Circle K, Speedway, 76, Racetrac, Conoco, Mobil, and Exxon, are offering up to 25¢/gal in cash back on gas. |
| Restaurants: 17,000+ restaurants, cafes, quick food outlets, and more offer up to 45% cash back. |
| Grocery Stores: In some places, such as Minneapolis, St.Louis, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, and Raleigh, you can get up to 30% cash back on groceries. |
Ever wondered what is Upside app and how to use Upside app? Upside is a cashback platform that allows users to claim discounts on every purchase. A user can claim the cashback in the following way –
The Upside app must first be downloaded from the Apple Store or Play Store. Next, launch the app while making a purchase from one of your preferred retailers. The app finds the finest deal for you to take advantage of, whether you need gas, groceries, or a nice meal.
Once you find a deal, claim the offer on the app, as per the instructions. The app provides a certain time limit on each offer the user claims, generally within 4-6 hours. The platform is most popular to offer cashback deals on gas stations.
An User’s Cashback from Upside
Use your standard debit or credit card to pay for the item you are purchasing, and then follow the in-app instructions. It is recommended to link your debit/credit card with the app in advance for seamless transaction verification. You will be prompted to scan and upload your receipt to the app using a photo. The cashback will be credited in your account within 1-2 business days.
The cashback/points can be redeemed for additional purchases or cashed out using a bank account, PayPal, or e-gift card. Every time you shop, you can earn actual money by buying anything you desire. More than 20,000 companies at more than 50,000 locations around the US use the platform, including Dunkin’ Donuts, Kmart, Dominos, Valero, Shell, and Speedway.
So, this is how to use upside app for users. The platform makes it simpler for merchants (across a range of categories and sectors) to turn a profit and give customers genuine value. The technology ensures that shops make money on each transaction (or don’t pay any fees) and uses an intuitive dashboard to track the effects of each transaction.
Upside uses your geo-location data to send you an offer when it detects you getting close to a participating establishment. If you’d rather not utilize this feature, you can choose not to share your background location; however, this is useful if you want to optimize your savings.
Upside’s referral scheme is excellent. You will receive an additional 15 cents per gallon credit to utilise within the Upside app when you recommend a friend. PLUS! Forever, you will receive one cent per gallon in cashback for each gallon of petrol your friend purchases through the app! The referral program is the one that never runs out! The platform might be new to your friends, so you can also teach them how to use upside app.
Users get cashback on things using the platform that they would have purchased anyhow! For instance, users anyway need petrol for their automobile cars.
The upside app’s interface and design is easy to navigate and use for users. The process to claim the cashback in the platform is simple to learn and a beginner will encounter no issues in understanding it. The mobile app development service provider made sure that the app satisfies the user requirements.
The app allows users to cashout their cashback points using a variety of cashout options. Some of the most popular withdrawal options available within the app are e-gift cards, PayPal, and direct bank deposits.
The earning potential of cashback for users is limited by the location and the number of participating stores in the app. For instance, users of a location with limited Upside participating businesses will have fewer earning opportunities.
For businesses, the model is limited to certain business types only and not to all kinds of stores.
The platform prices aren’t reliable all the time. Users have reported a few instances where the pricing Upside provided were different from what was available at the gas station. Although, the case is not common but many users have reported the issue.
The cashback platform, Upside, currently has a market valuation of over $1.5 Billion and annual revenue of $128 Million, as of 2023. Personalized offers, white-label solutions, and affiliate commissions are Upside’s top three revenue streams. The details of each model are given below –
According to the GDPR, aggregate data—which is personal data processed for statistical purposes—is not considered ‘personal’ these days. There is a great deal of demand for this data because cash-back systems handle retail sales. It is applied to increase the efficacy of marketing initiatives. Big platforms that sell anonymous and aggregated data are Fetch Rewards and Ibotta.
The majority of Upside’s revenue comes from affiliate commissions received from its network of over 50,000 partners. A portion of the transaction is made by Upside when a customer uploads a receipt. The amount that the business receives from each partner is kept a secret. Nevertheless, the commission rate varies according to the item category, much like with Amazon affiliate program.
Commission Percentage –For instance, if a user purchases pizzas from Domino’s, Upside will receive 4.5% of the order value. In the event that a user places a Gelson’s grocery order, Upside may receive 9% of the entire amount.
Upside employs machine learning algorithms, which have been trained on millions of data points, including the geolocation and debit/credit card transactions of its clients, to present its users with attractive offers.
Every consumer receives a personalized offer during every purchase. Additionally, over time, the customization is optimized to increase revenue and sales. As a result, its partners see an increase in sales volume and profitability, which eventually results in higher referral fees.
To put it simply, Upside leverages AI to present more, pertinent products that users might not have previously considered buying
Upside has also begun providing its larger partners, such as Uber, Current, GasBuddy, Lyft, etc., with white-label software solutions. Small and medium-sized companies can opt to utilize Upside partner API to customers for offering them personalized promotions straight within their own branded app.
As a result, Upside receives a greater amount of referral revenue from these APIs.
So, this was the answer to how does upside make money. We will now move to what would be the app development cost to build similar apps like Upside.
The average app development cost to build cashback apps like Upside can range anywhere between $15,000 and $60,000, based upon functionalities, features, and app design. The exact cost depends majorly upon hired mobile app development service provider, features required, app complexity, UI/UX, and number of platforms. Based on complexity, the app can be classified into three categories –
| App Complexity | Apps Like Upside Development Cost | Apps like Upside Development Time (Weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Functionality | $15,000 to $25,000 | 4 – 9 |
| Standard Functionality | $25,000 to $40,000 | 15 – 26 |
| Advanced Functionality | $40,000 to $60,000 | 26 – 74 |
Platforms:
Cashback applications may be more expensive if they need independent web, iOS, and Android integrations. Developing for many platforms can save money in the long term.
Design:
A complex and feature-rich program that integrates loyalty cards, scans paper receipts, and other features could be more expensive.
Features:
The price of each new feature for the MVP could go up. Think about starting with the bare minimum.
Team Required:
Depending on the level of experience needed, costs may go up if a PM, UI/UX Designer, iOS developer, Android developer, Flutter developer, back-end developer, QA, or DevOps are needed.
Location:
While USA development service providers charge the highest, app development companies in India offer the best value in terms of cost and quality.
Testing: It could take longer to test complex features.
To develop a cashback website, you need more than just an idea. It is important to conduct thorough market research to see whether there are enough people are requesting the solution or not. You can also look for a business opportunity that is undercapitalized (an underutilized niche and time-saving feature, a lack of coverage in a geographic area).
Find your direct competitors and analyze their advantages, drawbacks, and methods for surpassing them. For instance, some customers have complained about cashback apps like Upside not paying their users.
An experienced and expert mobile app development company can handle a complex cashback app development project sincerely. You can use resources like Clutch.co or GoodFirms.com to find a good company in the market. These are credible market research firm that does their analysis and checks before listing a company. Konstant Infosolutions is the #1 mobile app development company in India and has been recognized with ‘Top Developers Awards’.
It could be more expensive to hire freelancers in some areas than it would be to hire a specialized mobile app development company in India.
For example, employing a developer in the United States could run you between $100 and $180. Similarly, developers in India charge $20 to $40 per hour, with more experienced coders earning $50.
Take note that past development experience in developing cashback sites is crucial for an app development company to produce effective results.
After the idea is well specified, the design phase starts. Forming user stories is a good place to start. They provide a user-perspective explanation of the app’s functionality. After that, in order to provide a rough visual representation of the concept, the design team can sketch and construct app wireframes.
The team can create a prototype, or early version of the software, that will be used to construct the MVP, or ultimate product if they decide on the course of action. Prior to switching to a high-fidelity prototype that closely resembles the finished product, it’s crucial to begin with a low-fidelity prototype with very basic functionality to get rid of errors.
Creating a minimal viable product (MVP) allows you to easily understand your idea and provides users with a functional app at a low cost. Additional investments may be justified based on the MVP’s success.
To create an MVP, we advise utilizing a cross-platform framework like Flutter. For almost the same amount of money and time as it would take to develop a native solution, you can deploy beta versions for both iOS and Android.
Now the real question – What features should the MVP have? When deciding which features to offer, we take the market analytics findings into account. For example, it might make sense to support e-receipt scanning right away if it’s available on all platforms.
The last step is to deploy and launch your MVP version for the public. This is not the end, though. We at Konstant Infosolutions will still gather analytics and data from the initial users. The investigation is centered on indicators related to engagement and problems that could affect the user experience.
The cashback app development service team will be able to provide new features and make wise adjustments to keep customers coming back if they act on facts rather than conjecture.
As was previously indicated, you can begin your store partner search for cashback app even before you begin the design and development phase. It can mean contacting retailers in your chosen specialty or location for many affiliate networks.
So, this was all about the most downloaded discount app of 2022 in the USA, Upside (formerly GetUpside). The post has covered the business model of the platform, the process to build apps like Upside, how does it work, and pros & cons of the Upside platform. Further, the platform has an USP to stand out in the market, making it a “HIT”, i.e. cashback on daily purchases. Similarly, if anyone is thinking to launch similar apps like Upside has to offer some unique value to the users to make a place in the industry.
You can also consult any top mobile app development company in India, like Konstant Infosolutions, with relevant experience in the industry for better understand of the market.
Yes, Upside app is 100% legitimate and has an average rating of 4.8+ out of 5 on the App & Play Store. The company holds a reputation in the finance market and the US based firm has two offices, Washington, DC, and Austin, Texas. Further, there have been no reports of hidden fees or scams from the users and the app is safe to use.
Upside app allows users to earn cash back or claim offers to pump car gas. Users are earning over few dollars to multiple hundreds per month using Upside. For reference, frequent users of the app are making $340 on average, according to Finance Yahoo.
Upside is an online platform that provides cashback to users on every transaction made at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants across the United States. The users have to upload the bill receipt to receive cashbacks in points in the Upside account. The points can be used as a gift card, PayPal balance, or receive a check.
Upside makes money through a mix of business models. The platform takes a commission on earned profits from businesses. Apart from this, the platform also earns by selling white label software solutions, referrals, and affiliate commissions.
Upside, on its site, has declared that they do not sell data and keeps it for their personal records. However, there have been claims on the company about selling user data to other companies for their marketing & advertising purpose.
The cost to build an app like Upside varies greatly upon the features & functionalities required. On average, Upside app development costs range between $15,000 to $60,000, ranging from simple to complex. The cost also depends on several internal & external factors, such as app design, hiring mobile app development company in India, and other requirements.
Vipin Jain is the Co-Founder and CEO at Konstant Infosolutions and is in charge of marketing, project management, administration and R&D at the company. With his marketing background, Vipin Jain has developed and honed the company’s vision, corporate structure & initiatives and its goals, and brought the company into the current era of success.
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