PinchME is an online destination that allows members to try new products for free, every month, with no subscription costs attached. All they ask is that you tell them what you think!
Not that New Yorkers are opinionated, mind you.
It’s simple – you choose a product from one of the company’s leading brands, and it’s delivered to your home or workplace for free. But you have to be quick about it – products are reserved for you for a limited time to ensure that everyone has a chance to receive the available products. Once you’ve tried, tasted or touched the products, you leave your feedback.
All for free, so what do you have to say to that? Besides, well, pinchMe, of course.
Founder and Chairman Jeremy Reid tells us more about the product and the amazing community he has built that’s a million members strong – and growing!
Tell us about the service.
PINCHme (pinchme.com) is the largest active online community (1,000,000+) of primary household shoppers interested in trying new products, connecting with brands (CRM), sharing on social media, completing reviews and purchasing.
How is it different?
PINCHme is the first site of its kind in the US, allowing consumers to choose samples from hundreds of leading grocery, beauty and OTC brands in exchange for only their honest feedback. PINCHme works with many of America’s favorite household brands to offer consumers a taste of the newest and most popular products in the market. For brands, the increased product awareness drives overall sales, generates valuable consumer feedback and product insights, and also increases engagement across social and other online platforms.
Unlike other sampling-box companies, PINCHme collects detailed demographic, geographic and psychographic data from its members on a voluntary, opt-in basis, allowing brand partners to target product samples to consumers based on their individual profiles. This fundamental feature of the platform completely eliminates the wastage associated with traditional product sampling.
PINCHme then puts the power into the hands of the consumer, requiring that members choose only a portion of the brands that are presented to them when they log into pinchme.com. By limiting a member’s selection of the samples available, PINCHme ensures that they are even more motivated to try and consequently buy the products.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
We are attacking the one trillion dollar consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry that has been historically slow to embrace technology and the Internet. We are transforming the way CPG manufacturers connect with consumers. For the first time, manufacturers are able to receive valuable feedback from consumers and take a smarter, more accountable approach to sampling and social sharing.
What is the business model?
Manufacturers pay PINCHme a fee to showcase their products on the PINCHme platform.
PINCHme also earns affiliate-marketing fees from major retailers when members buy products via the “Buy Now” links on PINCHme.com
What are some of the most popular products or product classes from your collected data?
We are building a comprehensive database, which is made up of demographic, geographic and psychographic data from individuals across the entire country.
Most popular product categories to date are beauty, personal care, and snacking.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Over the next six months, our key milestones are:
– Deliver another 5 million samples to our members
– Grow our community to 2 million members
– Work with all major CPG manufacturers
If you could be put in touch with one investor in the New York community who would it be and why?
Carl Icahn. Carl has been one of the most successful investors and has the ability to identify value or trends in places that others fail to recognize.
Carl has been very active in the CPG industry and would appreciate the structural shift that is currently occurring as large manufacturers reallocate their budgets away from traditional advertising and into more digital focused strategies.
Why did you launch in New York?
For three reasons:
One of the major investors in PINCHme is Droga5, a New York-based advertising agency that has been very helpful in building the PINCHme brand and business.
A large concentration of CPG clients are in this area, including L’Oreal, Coty, Unilever and Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Revlon,
PepsiCo and Beiersdorf. Positioning ourselves in NYC has allotted for more immediate access to these key partners.
What’s your favorite fall destination in NYC?
It would have to be Central Park. It’s invigorating to see the transformation from summer greenery to winter chill. Central Park is the one destination in New York City that truly showcases the stark uniqueness of the Northeast’s seasonal transitions.
In Summer, the park is all about picnics on a blanket, horse and carriage rides, roller skating to music, fabulous people watching by those visiting from all over the world.
The Fall, with its crisp cool nights and warm days welcomes a breathtaking aesthetic change as the foliage transforms into spectacular hues of red and orange. The city becomes a place unlike any other– juxtaposing the softness of the Autumn scenery with the sharp backdrop of the urban skyline.
