US digital coupon giant RetailMeNot has yet again announced strong quarterly results – reaffirming the booming discount code market across the globe.
Since its IPO in July last year, the NASDAQ-listed business has gone from strength to strength, and its figures for the three months ending December 2013 are indeed a testament to that.
Today the Austin-based firm has revealed a 55% increase in net revenues for the fourth quarter, to $78.5 million, compared to $50.8 million for the same period in 2012.
For the full 2013 year, net revenues were $209.8 million, an increase of 45% compared to $144.7 million.
Founder and CEO of RetailMeNot, Cotter Cunningham, attributed the strong performance in 2013 to investments made in people, technology and marketing – to position the company for long-term growth.
“In the fourth quarter in particular, we saw these investments pay off in our strong performance as a solid e-commerce environment and a shorter holiday shopping season saw heavy retailer promotional activity,” Cunningham said.
“Looking into 2014, we remain committed to making investments that will focus on delivering the highest value content for consumers, strengthening our community and enhancing our web and mobile offerings to position the company for long-term growth.”
Strong Q4
Organic Q4 net revenues, which exclude net revenues from acquired businesses not owned during both comparative periods, increased by 50%, and perhaps as expected, mobile net revenues rocketed – to $11.7 million, up 179% compared to $4.2 million.
Austin-headquartered RetailMeNot, which owns many other digital coupon sites across the globe, such as www.VoucherCodes.co.uk in the UK; www.RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; www.Deals.com in Germany, and www.Actiepagina.nl in the Netherlands, said Q4 net revenues from international markets totalled $16.3 million, up 85% compared to $8.8 million for Q4 2012.
Net income for the fourth quarter 2013 was $13.8 million, up 79% compared to net income of $7.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2012.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $31.0 million, up 43%, representing 39% of net revenues, compared to $21.7 million, or 43% of net revenues.
A significant driver of growth in the quarter was attributed to the abbreviated shopping season in 2013 and increased level of promotional activity by retailers, which started before the Thanksgiving holiday and continued throughout the quarter.
Over the five day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, RetailMeNot estimates that sales attributable to consumer traffic from digital coupons in our marketplace accounted for approximately 2.6% of US e-commerce spending.
Fourth quarter worldwide subscribers to RetailMeNot’s emails increased to 17.1 million, up 106%.
Full year highlights
For the full 2013 year, mobile net revenues totalled $26.6 million, up 213% compared to $8.5 million for the full year of 2012.
In 2013, net revenues from international markets totalled $43.3 million, up 75% compared to $24.7 million in 2012. Net income for the full year was $31.5 million, up 21% compared to net income of $26.0 million.
Adjusted EBITDA for the full year was $81.3 million, up 15%, representing 39% of net revenues, compared to $70.4 million, or 49% of net revenues.
Total visits to RetailMeNot websites grew 21% to 560.4 million, compared to 464.2 million. Net revenues per visit grew 20% to $0.374, compared to $0.312.
During 2013 150 employees joined the company, taking its total number of staff to 444.
Key focus areas for 2014
User-generated content, mobile and content quality are the top three initiatives the company plans to focus on in 2014.
This year the 2010-founded business plans to further improve its content with its offer validation capabilities. Also, through its RetailMeNot platform, retailers will have increased flexibility to test offers to help determine which resonate best and to refine their promotional strategies based on feedback from the RetailMeNot marketplace.
As more than one-third of its content is user-generated, the company said it plans to offer an even more ‘compelling community environment’.
It plans on bolstering the quantity and quality of its content offerings by rewarding and recognising those that generate content, as well as giving them insight into the performance of their contributions.
As consumers continue to migrate from the desktop to mobile devices, RetailMeNot said this is a natural extension of its business, and growing its mobile app user audience will be key areas of focus in 2014.
Last week another online coupon company filed with US regulators to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering of its common stock.
Coupons.com, which also recently acquired tracking and affiliate startup Yub, provides digital coupons and makes money when a customer downloads a coupon for redemption at a grocer or a retailer.