Your email inbox is a cumbersome tool. Over time it becomes difficult to manage and users have to spend a lot of time looking for what they are looking for. Also, everywhere he uses one email address, it’s a hassle to change it later. Email tools often fail to identify and properly group different types of email. India-based startup Flash is trying to solve this problem by creating a solution (reading email identities) for any e-commerce need.
Available on both iOS and Android, Flash allows you to create an email ID (using the @flash.co domain) that works across all shopping platforms. In return, you can earn rewards such as coupons and cashback. After downloading the app from the Play Store or App Store, you can sign up with your new email ID and use it to shop on all platforms. You can also track multiple shipments from within the app after placing an order.
Image credit: flash
Your inbox is divided into two parts: Handpicked and Others. A curated inbox contains important emails such as order shipping updates and sign-up confirmations, while other sections contain promotional emails.In the last few weeks of usage, some signup/confirmation emails[その他の受信トレイ]I noticed that it was delivered to The startup said it was still working out its filtering algorithm to avoid it.
The Flash email inbox is rudimentary at this point. You can only forward and reply to emails. Flash says users will be able to take advantage of features like archiving, automatic forwarding and flagging next month.
Image credit: flash
The app not only allows you to create new inboxes for ecommerce, but also connects them to your Gmail inbox. This allows the app to create an order summary for the last 12 months and display a report of your ecommerce spending. Additionally, this app also retrieves orders for shipping tracking from your Gmail account.
reward
Almost all e-commerce and payment services in India offer some sort of reward to their users to increase engagement and retention. Flash also has several types of rewards. First, cashback is uniquely offered when you complete certain orders or sign up for some services using your @flash.co email address.
There are also special coupons in brand collaborations with Walmart-owned Myntra, Puma, pharmacy platform Pharmeasy, and Warburg Pincus-backed electronics brand Boat. Discount coupons are standard practice in the Indian e-commerce market. Cred, which is backed by Google Pay, Paytm, and Tiger Global, offers these coupons in various forms and in bulk. But they often come with a lot of caveats.
Image credit: flash
Flash also rewards certain “streaks”, such as frequent purchases through a particular brand or ordering in a particular category within a particular time period. This allows the user to earn various rewards from both her Flash and brand. This startup converts 1 flash coin to 1 rupee as a reward. A user can deposit money directly into a bank account by linking his UPI (Unified Payment Infercae) ID, a payment network native to India.
company
Flash was founded last April by former Flipkart exec Ranjith Boyanapalli. The company raised $5.8 million in seed funding in his November from a number of investors including Global Founders Capital (GFC), White Venture Capital and Zinal Growth, with Flipkart founders Binnie Banthal, Kled’s Knar Shah , Sujeet Kumar of Udaan, Grouse and others participated. Lalit Keshua.
Prior to founding, Flash Boyanapalli was Senior VP at Walmart-owned Flipkart, where he managed the company’s fintech and payments industry. In a call with TechCrunch, he said there is tremendous value in using online shopper data to deliver value to consumers. Flash’s idea is rooted in leveraging a cross-merchant’s data intelligence through a single email identity, he said.
“We are targeting around 25 million power shoppers in India who shop from multiple merchants each year and contribute significantly in terms of market spend in the country’s e-commerce market,” said Boyanapalli. says Mr.
One of the challenges these shoppers face is excessive inbox spam from various vendors, he said. Additionally, it is difficult to track orders via email. Notably, Gmail rolled out an order tracking feature, but it’s currently limited to certain regions. For brands, it becomes difficult to engage with customers as they are bombarded with coupons and lower conversion rates. Boyanapalli said Flash is trying to solve all these problems in his one app.
There are many e-commerce apps in both India and US that offer order tracking or rewards, such as Shopify’s Shop app, Groupon, Cashkaro, etc. But Flash sees an advantage as it combines all these features in his one app.
According to Bernstein, India’s e-commerce market is expected to double to over $130 billion by 2025, and the startup seeks to target those who will contribute the most to that figure. However, the majority of those people are making their purchases through Amazon India and Flipkart, which currently do not use Flash in any of their rewards programs.
what’s ahead?
After this launch, Flash will focus on rolling out features such as monthly reports, inbox search, email labeling, archiving, and automatic forwarding in the coming months. The company also builds its own “Login with Flash” authentication mechanism that e-commerce partners can integrate into their services.
Apart from rolling out features, the startup is also looking to expand its category by tailoring its products for travel and purchasing OTT (Over the Air) services. In the future, the app may be able to manage all tickets and subscriptions. Flash is also preparing to launch in the US this year. The US has a much larger e-commerce market than India in terms of both high-value shoppers and total revenue.
