New UK shopping referral app rewards the genuine recommendations people already make to friends and family – without needing followers or an audience.
20 October 2026
A new UK shopping app is aiming to change who gets rewarded for influencing what people buy.
Sendough, now available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play, lets ordinary people earn when products they genuinely recommend to friends or family lead to an eligible purchase.
The idea behind the app is simple: people influence the buying decisions of those around them every day, even if they have never thought of themselves as influencers.
“You shouldn’t need an audience to be influential,” said Edwyn McFarlane, founder of Sendough.
“I started thinking about this after our first child was born. We were constantly talking to other new parents about what we’d bought, what worked and what we’d recommend. Someone would ask which pram, baby monitor or other product you were using and you’d send them the link.
“Those recommendations mattered because they came from somebody you actually knew and trusted. But it struck me that while the creator and affiliate industries have become very good at rewarding somebody recommending a product to thousands of followers, the recommendations ordinary people make every day largely go unrecognised.
“That was the starting point for Sendough.”
Sendough is designed to fit into the way people already recommend products rather than asking them to change how they shop.
Users browse retailers and shopping apps as normal. When they find something they genuinely want to recommend, they use their phone’s usual Share menu and choose Sendough.
Where an eligible affiliate programme is available, Sendough creates a trackable recommendation that can then be sent privately through services such as WhatsApp, iMessage or other messaging apps.
The recipient shops with the retailer as normal. If the recommendation leads to an eligible purchase, the person who shared it can earn most of the affiliate commission generated by that transaction.
Users do not need to create content, build a following or understand affiliate marketing to use the service.
McFarlane said the concept extends far beyond the new-parent conversations that originally inspired it.
“Think about how many buying decisions start with somebody asking a friend: ‘Where did you get that?’, ‘Which one did you buy?’, ‘Where did you stay?’ or ‘What trainers are those?’
“That happens between parents, runners, friends talking about clothes or beauty products, people recommending hotels and in plenty of other everyday situations.
“Sendough isn’t about turning everybody into an influencer. It’s almost the opposite. It’s about recognising that you can have real influence over what somebody buys without having an audience at all.”
Unlike conventional shopping or cashback apps, Sendough does not require users to begin their shopping journey inside the app.
The main experience is built around the native sharing tools already available on iPhone and Android.
“I didn’t want people to have to remember to open Sendough before they went shopping,” said McFarlane.
“That’s not how recommendations happen. You see something and think of somebody, or somebody asks you what you’d recommend. You should just be able to tap Share, choose Sendough and send it to them.”
Sendough is now available to download in the UK on both iPhone and Android.
Sendough is a UK shopping referral app built around genuine recommendations between people who know each other. Users browse and shop online as normal, then share products they recommend through their phone’s usual Share menu. Where an eligible affiliate programme exists, Sendough turns that recommendation into a trackable referral, and the person who shared it can earn if it leads to an eligible purchase.
Edwyn McFarlane
Founder, Sendough
support@sendough.com
Sendough is operated by Tree Hub Farms Ltd, trading as Sendough. The recipient of a Sendough recommendation does not receive a financial incentive and completes their purchase with the retailer as normal. Earnings depend on an eligible transaction being successfully tracked and approved under the relevant retailer or affiliate programme terms. Returned, cancelled or otherwise ineligible purchases may not generate earnings.