Two Leading North East Entrepreneurs Launch Reward Me Now App

Reward Me Now - Sam Morton and Gary Hunter
Sam Morton and Gary Hunter - Two leading North East Entrepreneurs set to launch Reward Me Now App.

Sam Morton and Gary Hunter owners of REDU are behind Ashleigh Money Saver the UK’s leading shopping influencer. The business duo are now gearing up to launch the Reward Me Now shopping app with huge savings for UK shoppers.

Sam Morton and Gary Hunter are two leading entrepreneurs based in the North East with their company Redu currently soaring and going from strength to strength. They have worked around the clock over the last 5 years to establish Redu as one of the leading businesses in the North East and the UK consumer market. Recruiting a strong team from the North East of over 25 (with this number continuing to grow), they have firmly put their business on the map with one of their products Ashleigh Money Saver which is now the UK’s leading shopping influencer.

Founded in 2014 Redu have grown their revenue from a standing start to over £2.5 million turnover. Redu have several strands to their business which are all consumer-led and they are now selling over £40m of goods for UK retailers every year (2018 figures). They are set to double their turnover again within the next 24 months. With offices in Seaham and recently expanding to London with their new satellite office, the company provides jobs and careers which are fully supportive of flexi working times and women who need to balance family life and career.

1. Tell us how and when you started Redu?

Redu was established in March 2014 after Gary had an idea to make finding valid discount vouchers easier online. I joined him in April to help get our first App idea off the ground. As we were building the app we started to look for an audience of money savers that we could start engaging with. It was then we came across Ashleigh and began working with her to build the Ashleigh Money Saver brand on Facebook. It soon became obvious that if we could find products our audience wanted at bargain prices then we could add real value to everyone that followed, so we began our focus on this channel, rather than the app we started of with. We knew that understanding the audience was key to growing them and keeping them engaged, and so we developed software that tracks engagement and shopping habits so that we have a good idea which brands and products our audience are interested in. Using that, and the brilliant team we’ve brought in over the years, we’ve managed to grow the Ashleigh brands significantly, with over 1.7m women in the UK now engaging with us.

2. What are your goals for the company over the next 18 months?

We never stand still at Redu and we’re always looking for new ways to add real value to our audience – saving them money every time they shop. Over the next 18 months we have some exciting features and ideas that we will be offering to all of our social followers and we have a team dedicated to the new Reward Me Now App, which we believe can genuinely save people over £1,000 a year by giving them year-round discounts on over 160 high street and online brands. So in short, we’re going to be busy building

3. You have a very strong team from the North East – tell us about them.

Both myself and Gary are born and bred in the North East and we’ve both built businesses here before. We know that the region is full of talented and passionate people and we’ve been fortunate enough to attract lots of them to join us as we build the business. From highly skilled technical developers to people with experience and knowledge around management and advertising, to the core team that handpick the very best deals they can find from the brands our audience like to see – they work really well together and give us a team that is second to none.

4. You have recently launched Reward Me Now – what makes this app different from others out there?

We’re really excited about Reward Me Now because there really isn’t anything out there that’s quite like it! In a nutshell, it offers discounts year-round at over 160 high street and online retailers. We do this by essentially selling people e-codes for retailers at a discount, so if you want to spend £100 at Argos for example, we can give you £100 of Argos credit for £93, saving you £7 before you buy. You can use this on top of any other sales that might be on so if you’re a member of Reward Me Now we can guarantee the lowest prices possible. Because it’s unique in the B to C market we’re having to really educate our audience so they get how simple it is to use. We just went live and we have over 3000 members so far and we’re seeing people making huge savings on daily purchases like coffee, food and drink to bigger less frequent purchases like holidays, electrical goods and even car insurance.

5. Ashleigh Money Saver is now the UK’s leading shopping influencer – what has been the biggest lesson you have learnt building this platform up?

We’ve learned a lot over the last 5 years but probably the most important thing is to keep the audience at the heart of everything we do. By analysing how they engage with us on social media and via our app we can learn so much about what they expect from us and what makes them happy, and if they’re happy then they’ll tell their friends and help us grow. By listening to them we have come up with some of our best ideas, and we’ve found out pretty fast if our ideas aren’t as good as we thought!

6. You are one of the leading companies to work for in the North East – for anyone looking to move to Redu what can they expect?

We look for people to join us who understand what we’re trying to do and who understand who we’re trying to talk to. It’s no coincidence that a lot of our team are mums aged mid-20s to mid-40s as that’s a reflection of our core audience. We try to have a clear, transparent culture where everyone knows what we’re trying to achieve and everyone is aligned to that mission. We invite everyone to chip in with ideas and we expect everyone to work hard so that we give our audience the best value we can. Along with the hard work and focus on delivering value and innovation, we also try and have a lot of fun. At the end of the day, you spend more time with your work colleagues every day than you do with your family, so it has to be enjoyable. We also try our best to reward everyone for all their hard work and we do that through being flexible with hours (as I said we have lots of kids between us so lots of school runs, school plays and parents evenings need to be attended!), we have a bonus system in place and we also have a corporate membership at Seaham Hall so that the team can use the spa and gym whenever they like.

7. At a time when high street shops are folding Redu are soaring – do you think this is down to you being one step ahead and leaders in innovation?

Research (and our own experience) shows that over 70% of people now will not make a purchase without a discount, so all we do is find the best discounts on all of the brands that our audience loves. We do that using social media and emails but we do try to innovate to make accessing discounts really simple via Reward Me Now. Reward Me Now we offer members discount in stores as well as online, so we’re trying to help drive people to the high street too. One thing that is pretty constant over time is that people shop, it’s just how they shop that changes and that’s where we need to be one step ahead.

To find out more about the Reward Me Now App, visit: www.rewardmenow.co.uk

 

 

 


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