Skip to content

Disrupting the online shopping business model: Student Alert!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Want to buy an iPad, but not pay for it? DiscountIF launched in July out of TAKEOFF (the University of Malta start-up business incubator) and they might let you do just that, with a twist.

To get your money back you need to back an event; will Liverpool win their next game by 2 goals or more? Or, when will the next royal baby be born? Will it be a Monday? If you guess right, your wallet will be happier. If not, you might find this approach to online shopping a hell of a lot more fun.

DiscountIF are on the way to breaking into two of the biggest online markets: shopping and gambling. The brains behind cannot compete with these companies on volume today, but have identified gaps in their respective markets. DiscountIF has gasified the online retail marketplace by creating a new, innovative trading platform that creates engagement for the consumer and the brand or retailer alike.

Want to be part of this disruptive budding startup? CEO Lewis Holland knows and appreciates the power of interns. The company wants students to approach them and take on the challenge of growing with them. ‘Students and young graduates learn a lot more with a startup than a big business, and Instead of being a small cog in a machine, they can contribute much more broadly within a developing business environment’, Holland says. ‘Interns at DiscountIF would be working with a vastly experienced team having previous roles at large brands such as Betfair, Ratesetter, Paddy Power, Eurosport, QPR, O2, and Vodafone.’

DiscountIF encourages any interested students to pay them a visit at TAKEOFF and learn more about them.

And this is not vaporware; apart from obtaining the TAKEOFF Seed Fund Award back in June 2014, DiscountIF has already placed second (out of 30) at the Excellence in iGaming Start-Up Launch Pad in Berlin in October 2014 and were finalists for the prestigious Innovator of the Year Award at the International Gaming Awards at the beginning of February 2015.

Prof. Juanito Camilleri (rector, University of Malta) remarked ‘DiscountIF is one of those rare gems in these times, of a brilliant and unique idea which is so beautifully simple, I’m sure major retailers wish they had thought of it. It’s a real credit to the University of Malta’s incubator, TAKEOFF, to have nurtured this team to where they are today.’

Check out their site, or come by for a chat at the incubator.

 

Follow DiscountIF on twitter @discountif or search #ShopCheerWin and #nobrainer

Author

More to Explore

Postcards to the Self: Memory, Art, and the Spaces In Between

Following her studies with UM’s Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences, Michelle Gialanze conducted her research on the art of remembering through a physical yet still ephemeral archive – postcards. Under the supervision of Prof. Vince Briffa and Nicole Pace from the Department of Digital Arts, she presented her final research entitled: Utilising Postcards to Create an Autobiographical Artefact of Memories of an Event.

Together for Our Seas

The University Maritime Platform (UMP) serves as a platform bringing experts from various backgrounds together to work on marine and maritime issues. This year, UMP is organising an international conference to foreground and discuss such concerns.

Guardians of the Lost Web

Digital archives safeguard our shared heritage, but in an era of cyber threats and fleeting information, who will protect these modern Libraries of Alexandria? THINK speaks to Dr Charlie Abela and Luke Brincat.

Comments are closed for this article!