This app shows you the best deals in major cities across Pakistan

Peekaboo Guru, a location-based app, shows all the deals and discounts offered by the businesses

With everyone being hard pressed for time, an app which not only shows best deals offered by businesses but also sorts them in accordance with one's requirements and location can make life a lot simpler.

Enter Peekaboo Guru. Developed by Fetch Sky technologies, headed by Mehdi Hasan, Peekaboo is a location-based app which acts as a business directory and shows all deals and discounts offered by businesses and participating partners.



“We started working on Peekaboo in January this year and launched the beta version of the app in May,” said Shujaat Ameer, senior business manager at Fetch Sky. The firm is looking to release the actual product on September 21.

How does the app work?

You can login using your phone number or with your Google/Facebook account. When you login, on the home screen you have different tabs for different business sectors like food, lifestyle, entertainment and health among others. Users can look through specific sections or choose all outlets open at any given moment. Every time a new deal is offered by a business, the app will send a push notification to let you know.



Responding to how regularly the app is updated, Ameer said, “We have a separate data team which is dedicated to adding new entities and businesses as well as updating existing ones.” For example, if a food outlet is offering a deal today, it might discontinue or introduce a new deal, so we have to keep updating our data constantly, he added.



Besides offering deals and discounts, Peekaboo also serves as a business directory, listing details regarding establishments, their branches, timings, contact details and contact information. Taken together, small things no one ever thought about.



The app is not limited to only Karachi . It also covers other major cities including Lahore, Islamabad, Multan and Faisalabad. So if you move from Karachi to Lahore or Islamabad, you won’t have to rely on your friends in Lahore to tell you which food outlet, clothing or footwear store is  located near you and offering what deal. All you need to do is open the app and there you go.

Cut-throat competition between banks compels them to offer some amazing discounts on their cards. However, there’s no one aggregating the deals offered. That’s where Peekaboo comes in handy, as it also shows the discounts available on using certain banks and cards. Deals and discounts offered by Bogo, Savyour and Vouch365 are also covered by Peekaboo.

One of the best things about Peekaboo Guru is that once you exit it, the app completely shuts down. This is in stark contrast to many other apps that keep running in the background and pile up on your smartphone’s memory.

Aiming high

Responding to how satisfied the company is with the performance of the app so far, Ameer said, “No one can ever be satisfied with performance as we always want more. Although we are yet to start marketing aggressively, the app has already been downloaded over 10,000 times. So yeah, we’re fairly satisfied with how things going.”

Claiming that there are no location-based apps offering deals in the country, Peekaboo’s senior business manager said certainly there’s demand for the app as there’s no direct competition. Besides, there are over 40 million smartphone users, always keen on taking advantage of deals. The only app that we see as direct competition is Zomato, a location-based app in Dubai serving the food industry, he added.



Talking about Peekaboo’s business model and expansion plans, Shazain Riaz, marketing analyst at FetchSky said, “Currently we have an information-based model, our next phase will be a transaction-based model where you’ll be able to order things using the app. It will be launching next year. Peekaboo has higher plans and wants to challenge Zomato at its own game in Dubai. But we want test it first in Pakistan, said Ameer.

Monetisation model

Revealing that the app is not generating any money at the moment, Ameer disclosed that the company is currently in talks with few banks including Bank Al Habib, Summit Bank and is close to finalising deals with Bogo and Vouch365.



Explaining how the company aims to monetise its growth, he said besides sponsors that the company is looking to strike deals with, it is looking towards advertising to generate revenue by renting out banner slots in the app. The company will also be forwarding half-converted leads to banks/voucher companies in which users show interest and will get certain percentages on the leads.

“We will also monetise search merchandising. For example if a customer searches for burgers in the app, the first five results the app will show will be sponsored,” he added. Further, Peekaboo is also looking at using geo-fencing technology to alert users about deals offered by sponsors. “For example, if a customer enters Dolmen Mall he’ll receive a notification detailing all deals our sponsors are offering.”

You can download the beta version of the app here