With its launch in 2016 BOGO, which is Buy One Get One coupon book quickly gained momentum in Karachi. The response the book and the app in general have been very positive, speaking about the success of BOGO and everything in between is founder Karim Kabir.
Karim is a graduate from Monash University with a degree in International Business; he initially moved to Dubai to establish a Pakistani cuisine restaurant but eventually returned to Pakistan after a few years where he came up with BOGO. According to Karim, BOGO is all about delivering a delightful customer experience.
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“After returning to Karachi from Dubai, I realized that the disposable income of people in Karachi was increasing, however, we were still not exploring new options for food or shopping. Therefore, we felt that BOGO can act as a very interesting tool for people to explore new experiences and our merchants to acquire new customers”
BOGO started off with 50 brands, according to him and today they work with over 300 brands offering 1000+ buy-one-get one free vouchers. Initially a consumer business they now also power loyalty and discounts for various corporate in the banking, FMCG and pharmaceutical industries.
Talking about the journey, he said “Started off with one voucher book, today we have a fully functional voucher redeeming technology product that is trusted by hundreds of merchants and thousands of customers. I’m sure with the passion to innovate that lies at the heart of our team there is much more to achieve, we have only started yet!”
Talking to IDG Karim revealed that at BOGO they welcome healthy competition, “we are directly competing with those who are offering buy one get one free deals, we are also in a way competing with discount cards and indirectly, bank cards. We believe competition is good as it provides options for the public,” he said.
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The question that arises is the vendor response to this idea, because without a doubt, the consumers love the concept. Speaking about it, Karim said
“The merchants generate footfall and are also getting marketing through our online and offline channels and in a way are breaking clutter by being a part of BOGO.”
BOGO Pakistan app according to its founder is an interface for customers to view and redeem offers of their favorite experiences. When a customer redeems the offer, the voucher gets locked through a command from the back end, he also said that the process has been evolved multiple times after gathering feedback from customers and partners to make it user friendly, fast and light on the customer’s phones.
According to Karim, the coding of the app is out-sourced but UX and UI side of the product have been engineered in-house.
Future plans for BOGO includes expanding to Lahore and Islamabad along with adding more brands and offers. “We have more exciting things coming up but want to keep it as a surprise for now!” added Karim.
Interview conducted/edited by: IDG
