Times Internet recently acquired a majority stake in Coupon Dunia. Medianama spoke to its competitors to find out how the merger affects them and the ecosystem. Excerpts: How will it impact the kind of deals affiliate marketing companies negotiate with e-commerce companies? Swati Bhargava - CEO & Co-Founder, Cashkaro.com Though our value proposition is different with the cashback feature, the acquisition is a positive development for the overall affiliate marketing industry. The combined entity will get marketing support from Times, which will help them grow fast. This leads to more awareness about coupons, deals, cashback and makes retailers realise the value of affiliates. This helps us in negotiating better deals with e-commerce companies. The acquisition clearly shows recognition of the value being generated by our sector. Congratulations to Sameer Parwani and his team. It’s always great to see entrepreneurs succeed. Ravitej Yadalam - Founder and CEO, Pennyful Online We do not expect this deal to affect us in anyway. We work with most of them to give cashback rebates and discout coupons to our customers. Real money cashback sets us apart from them and hence this development should not impact us. We believe that customers are in for some good times. Ultimately, every player in the e-commerce segment wants to gain an advantage when it comes to providing customers with the best shopping experience. Such developments are beneficial to both companies and customers. Bharath Devanathan, COO Groupon APAC - Emerging Markets The merger has a potential to offer benefit because Coupon Dunia…
