Rising Cost of Living Drives Shoppers to Cashback Network

Keighley, England froggybank.co.uk, which operates a U.K. network of consumer loyalty cashback Web sites, has seen a record increase in business driven by the rising cost of living.

The company offers 100% of the commissions it receives back to consumers, allowing them to keep the money or donate to charities. Shoppers log onto a cashback site before making online purchases from major retailers as normal. The referral fee paid by more than 1,500 retailers to the Web site is returned to the shopper as cashback.

The rate of new members joining to get money off online purchases from the froggybank.co.uk network is up 64% in the last six months. The network now has more than 500,000 shoppers, but there has been a 40% increase in repeat visitors using the sites for smaller purchases than ever before.

Marketing manager Nadeem Azam said they are seeing many new shoppers claim cashback on relatively small purchases. "Traditionally when people first discover cashback shopping they use it to get money back from a large purchase such as insurance or a major electrical item,” Azam said. “But we are seeing an unusually high number of people registering, then immediately claiming cashback on small every day purchases such as entertainment items, or health and beauty products."

"This trend is being driven by people having less money in their pocket because of the rising cost of fuel, food and other items. Cashback Web sites let people buy the goods they normally get at the prices they normally pay, with a little extra money back."