Rewardstream to wind down service with carrier in Q4 2016-12-06 19:26 ET - News Release
Mr. Rob Goehring reports
REWARDSTREAM PROVIDES CORPORATE UPDATE
Rewardstream Solutions Inc. has provided a corporate update for its three main target segments.
Financial Services Business Segment
The Company currently serves a number of financial services organizations, providing SaaS-based referral marketing capabilities to credit unions and banks. With current customers such as Envision Financial, Arsenal Credit Union, Valley First, Island Savings, Utilities Employee Credit Union and more, the Company continues to focus on growing its business in this sector to the more than 6,000 credit unions in North America(1). Credit unions remain a significant market opportunity, as customer satisfaction ratings exceed 90% and word of mouth remains the most effective method at acquiring new customers.
Telecommunications Business Segment
The Company continues to serve major telecommunications clients with its enterprise-class referral marketing platform. The Company currently provides services for major national and regional/specialty wireless carriers including Rogers Wireless, Freedom Mobile (formerly WIND Mobile), Koodo Mobile and a leading Hawaii-based carrier in the United States.
The Company's referral marketing program with a major U.S. telecommunications carrier has recently ended and the Company will complete the wind-down of service to this customer in the second calendar quarter of 2017. The decision to end the program was due to budgetary considerations and the Company remains engaged with the customer for potential future projects. While this will negatively impact the Company's 2017 financial performance, the Company has identified, and is pursuing, growth opportunities in the carrier market in Canada, the United States and Europe.
E-Commerce Business Segment
As previously disclosed, the Company is moving into the high-growth E-Commerce industry by integrating its referral marketing software into existing large scale E-Commerce platforms. The worldwide E-Commerce market is expected to grow to over 4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2020(2).
As previously disclosed, the Company's referral marketing platform is now available as an integrated "plug-in" for two major E-Commerce platforms - Magento and WooCommerce. Magento powers over 270,000 online stores(3) including the largest number of the Internet Retail Top 1000 stores of any other E-Commerce platform(4). WooCommerce powers over 1.5 million online stores(5) and is the most broadly used E-Commerce platform in the world. The Company is nearing completion of its beta-testing phase with Shopify (TSX:SHOP), an additional platform providing E-Commerce capabilities for over 325,000 online stores(6). Once the Shopify extension is complete, the Company will have an addressable market of 2 million online stores currently powered by these three platforms. The integration strategy provides fast and easy onboarding for clients without requiring IT involvement, and integrates Rewardstream referral marketing tools directly into the store's shopping cart process.
As previously disclosed, the Company has already seen uptake in the E-Commerce market and launched programs for online retailers including iPromo.com, Scholar's Choice, Double Your Dating, Messy Maids and more. The Company continues to evaluate integration opportunities with additional leading E-Commerce platforms to further expand the addressable market opportunities in this fast growing segment.
About Rewardstream Solutions Inc.
Rewardstream specializes in the execution of automated referral marketing programs that help brands to acquire, engage, and retain their most valuable stakeholders - customers. By utilizing an innovative blend of marketing insight and proprietary technology, Rewardstream turns an existing customer base into a powerful new sales channel for all of our clients. Rewardstream delivers a scalable, real-time technology platform as the foundation of our client's referral program. The platform provides customer acquisition programs that deliver new, highly loyal customers at very low cost per acquisition rates. Our award-winning marketing solutions have powered loyalty and referral marketing programs across 39 countries for brands including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Envision Financial, Koodo Mobile and more. For more information please visit www.rewardstream.com.
We seek Safe Harbor.