Smart Online is expanding into a new market aimed at nonprofits.
Last month, the Durham software company, which up to now has focused on software used by small businesses, introduced its Shop To Give (SmartOn™Cause) product. It enables supporters of a charity to go to the organization’s website to make online purchases from affiliated retailers, which in turn give a percentage of the purchase price to the charity.
One facet that differentiates Shop To Give from competing offerings is that, by working with the organization to design the shopping portal, “we are tying the [online shopping] directly to the cause and to the charity,” said Bob Dieterle, senior vice president and general manager.
It also features a social networking component designed to appeal to a younger generation of shoppers. The shopping site can easily be linked to Facebook and Linked-In pages, and there’s an “invite” section that lets people send e-mail messages to their friends telling them that they, too, can help the charity when shopping online.
“It’s a way for charities to grow their support base,” Dieterle said.
To date, Smart Online has lined up more than 300 retailers, including giant retail chains such as Best Buy, Office Depot and Target,Dieterle.
Two local groups – Animal Protection Society of Durham and SPCA of Wake County – are testing the service.
Rebecca Hankins, development director for APS of Durham, said her organization previously worked with another company that offered a similar service – but the site wasn’t attractive and the effort never really got off the ground.
She’s optimistic that Smart Online’s offering will be much better received because it has better aesthetics and because the company is helping it market to the shelter’s constituents.
“It’s so easy,” said Mondy Lamb, marketing director at the SPCA. “If you have done any online shopping at all, it is so super-simple.”
Lamb especially likes that shoppers can see exactly how much of each purchase goes to the charity, as well as receive a running total of their total contributions to date.
“One hundred percent of what you see goes to the charity,” she said.
Dieterle said it is too early to gauge how successful Shop To Give will be in raising money for the two local nonprofits.
Smart Online currently is charging retailers a separate commission ranging between 20 percent and 50 percent of the dollars that go to the charity. But Dieterle said that the pricing model is still evolving.
The company plans to work with just a few nonprofits for the next few months to work out the kinks before it starts to aggressively market the product, Dieterle said. The target market is midsize charities.
Smart Online also offers Web-based software for small business that performs back-office functions such as accounting and management of sales efforts; and e-commerce software for small businesses that want to sell products online. The technology behind the latter was adapted for Shop To Give.
Smart Online, which has been revamping its product offerings over the past few years, could use a boost in revenue. The company has been cutting its losses, thanks to an effort that included cutting its payroll – through layoffs and attrition – from 31 workers a year ago to 25 today. But its revenue has been shrinking as well.
In the latest quarter, the company posted a loss of $916,925, an improvement over a loss of $1.6 million a year earlier. Revenue totaled $363,900, versus $481,687 a year ago.
“There are going to be some bumps and stuff with our revenue as we reposition the company,” Dieterle said.
