DealSmash: A Retail Intelligence Start-up hits the ‘Tech Mart’

DealSmash is a retail intelligence tech startup in Pakistan. At the heart of it, is its namesake mobile app, DealSmash which uses business/social analytics to provide value to shoppers through personalized offers at their favorite stores based on their interests and buying patterns using Artificial Intelligence.

From the perspective of consumers, this not only saves them money but also enhances the customer experience by providing them with targeted offers based on the customer’s particular interests and purchase history. From the perspective of retailers and brands, this not only enables customer loyalty and an increase in their revenue but also enables them to get insights into consumer behavior and inventory control. Our mobile app is available on iOS and Android.

Everyone has experienced the frustration of not being able to avoid the spam that comes with marketing avenues of all kinds including SMS, emails and what not! For retailers and customers alike, DealSmash Recommender System, which is essentially the spam filter or modern marketer’s funnel, provides contextual awareness and personalized recommendations to retail customers. The central component of the system is an intelligent, adaptive software-based recommender system that can learn, both offline and online, the preferences, shopping behavior, geographic attributes and demographics of the customer base, in return providing a personalized shopping experience to each customer by suggesting only relevant offers to his or her mobile device in a context and location-aware manner.

Picture:  Ali Hasnain Shah CEO (Left), Hamza Iftikhar COO (Right)

Three friends, Ali Hasnain Shah (CEO) Ahsan Vaqar Hundal (CSO) and Hamza Iftikhar (COO), driven by their passion for changing customers’ lives through innovation founded DealSmash in 2016. With IT, Mobile Telecom and Retail background, as well as a global experience in managing large teams, Ali’s most recent experience, was overseeing a retail mobile project (a joint venture between UK retailer Sainsbury’s and Vodafone UK). Ali has over 17 years’ of experience in Business Development, Strategy and Execution in IT, Telecom and Retail in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

With a Masters in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (US), Ahsan Vaqar has over ten years of global experience in IT/Telecom industry of software development, product development, and strategy. Hamza Iftikhar has five years of experience in analytics and product development.

In addition to the co-founders, DealSmash Chief Data Scientist, Waheed Bajwa, has over 10 years of experience of machine learning and is an Assistant Professor in a leading public research university in the USA and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (US).

DealSmash got funding from IGNITE (Formerly National ICT R&D Fund) and is currently focusing on scaling and improving its product and technology. So far, DealSmash has got a subscriber base of 75,000 and have a good client base (retail stores). It also has over 150 retail stores and deals available on the app. Its journey has been truly amazing. Pakistan has a population of over 200 Million and the mobile penetration stands at 70%.

Smartphone penetration is over 31% and is increasing fast. It is predicted by GSMA to reach 51% by 2020.

Hence there is a huge potential for such disruption in the retail sector in Pakistan. It’s also one of the fastest-growing retail markets in the region. But at the same time, the startup ecosystem in Pakistan is evolving. Technology awareness among the customers, as well as the clients, is taking its time to reach a mature level. But according to Gartner, 85% of customer interaction in retail globally will be managed by Artificial Intelligence by 2020. Hence, DealSmash team is certain that things will change in Pakistan as well and they will overcome these challenges with the passage of time.

DealSmash business model is based on data acquisition and intelligence about the end consumer buying habits so that retailers and brands can target their offers to the most relevant consumers. Since it helps increase the revenues of brands and retailers, it charges them a fee on the transactions occurring through DealSmash app. The DealSmash app is free for consumers.

“DealSmash is not just any other App trying to make money. Revenue is essential to their business model but it’s not the driving force. Their driving force is to add value to DS customers’ lives and to give them a worthwhile shopping experience. This App is designed FOR the customers so the valuable feedback by the users is an indispensable ingredient of success for them” by Ali Hasnain Shah