Tag: clutch

Firm raises funds to help power mobile commerce expansion

Mobile commerce firm Clutch has raised $5.3 million during its Series B funding initiative. The company focuses on providing innovative mobile commerce services through the combination of electronic gifting, loyalty programs, and merchant rewards. The firm’s services have become relatively popular throughout the mobile commerce sector, especially among businesses that are interested in engaging consumers with smartphones and tablets. Part of the appeal of Clutch has to do with the company’s ability to combine several services into a singular platform, making mobile commerce somewhat more approachable.

Funding to help Clutch add new features and perfect those that already exist

Safeguard Scientifics, a capital and operational support provider for health care and technology companies, contributed the majority share of Clutch’s latest round of funding. The funds raised will be used to make progress in the development of Clutch’s mobile commerce platform. New business-to-business features will be introduced into the platform to make it more accommodating of the needs that businesses have when it comes to mobile commerce.

Clutch acquires loyalty program provider ProfitPoint

Clutch is not only raising money to support its mobile commerce platform, of course, as the company recently announced its acquisition of ProfitPoint, a provider of loyalty and gift programs. The acquisition is expected to help Clutch further develop its own loyalty programs and make them more valuable to businesses. Clutch has also acquired Sqoot, an aggregator of deals being offered by Goupon, Living Social, and Yelp.

Loyalty programs becoming more important as mobile commerce grows

According to Clutch, retailers that utilize loyalty programs experience a 46% increase in purchases coming from consumers. With more consumers beginning to show serious interest in mobile commerce, loyalty programs are becoming more important for retailers. These programs provide retailers with a way to ensure consumers continue purchasing products from them rather than their competitors. While mobile commerce allows consumers to be very flexible in their shopping, those using their smartphones and tablets to purchase products have shown a tendency to stick to a single retailer or a small group of retailers that can provide everything they need.

Clutch introduces new mobile commerce platform for iOS

Clutch, a mobile commerce company, has revealed a powerful new digital platform that aims to unite shopping, loyalty programs, and gifting. The mobile platform, which shares the same name as the mobile commerce company, is available for the iOS platform for free through the Apple App Store and the Clutch website. Clutch suggests that its application eliminates the need for multiple other applications coming from a wide range of developers, thus providing consumers with a higher degree of service and support.

Application aims to take advantage of gift card market

The first 1,000 consumers to download and register the Clutch application will receive a special digital gift card from several retailers worth $25. Gift cards are widely popular with consumers, especially during the holidays, but few take note of the value of the gift card market, which is worth a staggering $100 billion worldwide. This value accounts largely for physical gift cards. With consumers becoming more reliant on their mobile devices, the gift card market is also becoming more mobile, which is positioning it for expansive growth. Clutch sees this as a promising opportunity.

Platform could be very beneficial for consumers and retailers

The Clutch platform aims to make mobile shopping more streamlined for consumers while also taking advantage of the significant promise that can be found in the gift card business as well as loyalty programs. The application is capable of providing consumers with deals that are suited for their particular interests. Because Clutch accounts for a massive number of the world’s major retail brands, the mobile platform is capable of offering deals to consumers that align with their interests in an very accurate fashion. This also provides retailers with a very direct channel to consumers, opening the way for targeting marketing and engagement.

Clutch will have to compete with other platform for the favor of consumers

Clutch suggests that mobile shopping has become fragmented recently. The mobile platform may be able to help bring more simplicity to the business, but it will have to compete with the other mobile commerce platforms that are currently available. Consumers have shown that they are willing to try new platforms, but whether Clutch will be able to keep the consumers it is likely to attract has yet to be seen.