Umair Gadit is the CEO and co-founder of Savyour, Pakistan’s first and largest integrated consumer deals and rewards platform. He is also the founding partner of Disrupt.com, a global group of tech companies. Umair started his entrepreneurial journey in 2010 by co-founding PureVPN where he was heading the marketing function of the company. He also co-founded and led finance and HR matters at Gaditek, Pakistan’s biggest product-based tech company that operates across seven industries with 15 brands; and Cloudways, for which he headed marketing.

In August 2020, he took charge of Savyour as the CEO, with a mission to make it the region’s best consumer rewards platform. He also serves on the board of SQUATWOLF, the first premium UAE born and designed gym gear brand.

Umair graduated from the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology with a BBA degree (majors in Finance). Following are the edited excerpts of a recent conversation BR Research had with Umair Gadit:

BR Research: Tell us about your app Savyour and the idea behind the app?

Umair Gadit: Consider Savyour to be your ultimate online shopping companion. Savyour is Pakistan’s first and only savings app that offers its users cashbacks and discounts from hundreds of brands across multiple categories. While there are many apps in the market that offer discounts and deals, we are the only app in Pakistan that is offering cashback straight into the wallet of Savyour users on top of the deals and discounts they can avail from our partner brands, so it is understandably a new concept for our market.

Cashback itself is an easy way for consumers to save cash. They shop as usual and earn a certain percentage of the amount they have spent. It is important to understand that cashback is not points or discounts. It is real cash that customers can redeem by transferring the amount to their bank account or mobile wallet, so basically the money they are saving is what they were going to spend anyway. We launched in August 2020, and in just one year, more than Rs50 million worth of cashback has been disbursed to Savyour users.

BRR: How does it work? What segment and categories, B2B or B2C do you cater to?

UG: We launched the app last year in August, and since then we have gotten some of the biggest players in the country on-board such as Daraz, Pizza Hut and Naheed.pk. The process is fairly straightforward. All that a user needs to do is download the app, sign up and start shopping. Once they choose which brand, they want to shop from out of our over 250 partner brands, the cashback will be activated, and they will be routed to the partner brand’s website or app. Upon completion of their order, the cashback amount they have saved will start reflecting in their Savyour wallet under ‘pending’. As soon as the partner brand marks the order completed (depending on their return/exchange policies), the amount will be released from our end. Users can redeem their cashback as soon as it hits a minimum of PKR 200.

As far as users are concerned, we cater to anyone in Pakistan who shops online, which is why the partner brands we have on-board are of all sizes and types including B2C as well as B2B.

BRR: What is your geographical presence?

UG: We currently have on-ground presence in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. However, even now users from across the country can use the app to shop online from brands that offer nationwide delivery.

BRR: What is your business model in terms of charging the app users and partner brands? And how do you make money?

UG: As far as users are considered, we do not charge them anything. It is a free app available for anyone to download, sign up and start shopping. Getting listed on Savyour means our partner brands immediately gain access to our user database, which is rapidly growing. Our business model has been designed in a way that we bring value to everyone associates with us - whether it is our users or our partner brands. The commission they offer us is split among our users in the form of cashback and ourselves. This makes Savyour the cheapest marketing channel they are going to get, because our partner brands need to pay us only once a sale has been made. Hence, making it much easier to track the ROI they are receiving from the platform as opposed to most other mediums which lack this transparency. Usually, there is a significant cost attached to grabbing eyeballs and bringing users to an e-commerce platform. Furthermore, depending on the scope of the deal struck with each brand, we offer them various other marketing benefits through our social media assets and extensive network of influencers. To sum it up - this is a win-win situation for all our stakeholders.

BRR: Where else in the world does this type of aggregator model exist?

UG: This model is already prevalent in numerous countries across the world. If we have to look closer to home, India has Magicpin. Across Asia, we have Shopback which is the biggest player in this space. Of course, more developed countries like the US are mature in this area and have aggregators such as Rakuten & Ibotta.

BRR: Lately, a number of other local players have also ventured into the discounts and lifestyle arena tech; how do you differentiate yourself?

UG: Our business model of cashback is our biggest USP. While we do offer exclusive deals and discounts, the cashback we give is something that is not being offered by any other player in the country. For any user, there is no bigger incentive than hard, real cash which they can utilize at their own discretion and are not bound to use their cashback on our app only. The amount they save is also clearly spelled out, as opposed to other forms of loyalty points that generally translate to much less in monetary terms.

Moreover, deals and discounts are usually associated with credit cards or mobile wallets. We offer cashback through our app without any conditions; even on cash on delivery which is the most popular mode of payment in Pakistan. Lastly, users are entitled to cashback on top of deals, discounts and credit card promotions, that too on all offerings of our partner brands.

BRR: As a startup that operates in online shopping, what is your view of the country’s e-commerce ecosystem? Where are we headed and are we headed in the right direction?

UG: First and foremost, the growth of our e-commerce market is not just a positive development but also the need of the hour. Pakistan currently has 61.34 million internet users, which means roughly 27.5 percent of our overall population. Between 2020 and 2021 itself, we saw an increase of 11 million users (21 percent). This clearly indicates that Pakistan is one of the largest unrealized markets of e-commerce in the world. E-commerce is not the future anymore; it is the present and we need to get up to speed with it.

Previously, online shopping was mostly limited to products which weren’t easily available in the market. Due to the pandemic, people had no choice but to opt for online shopping. However, the trust factor is still very much there and something all brands/small businesses need to take into consideration. Since we are in a very exciting transition phase for online shopping, the one thing sellers need to be particular about is their customer service because one bad experience is enough to put off a customer from not just that particular brand but online shopping altogether.

BRR: How did you fund the startup, and do you plan to seek VC funding in the future to expand or any partnerships that could help you grow faster? What are your plans for the next couple of years?

UG: We are backed by one of the biggest tech companies in Pakistan, Disrupt.com. Having said that, we are looking at our numbers and will definitely do whatever it takes to win the market. We haven’t raised any money yet, but that may change in future depending on the opportunity.

Our broader goal is to make Savyour a full-fledged online shopping companion for users. We hope to achieve this by expanding our key categories - Grocery, Food, Fashion, Beauty & Personal Care and Electronics. Simultaneously, we want to further cement our presence in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad within the next year. We envision Savyour evolving into a regional brand and expanding across Pakistan. Finally, we want to continue to improve the overall experience of our key stakeholders including brands, e-tailers and retailers, creators and consumers.