Archive for February, 2011
Try Shopkick on Your Smartphone, Almost 1 Million Others Have!
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
I have been using the Shopkick application on my smartphone for the past few months and then I saw this article in the Wall Street Journal the other day and realized that 750,000 people have also downloaded and used the application since it was released in August.
Basically, the idea behind the Shopkick application is that users can login and see which local retailers are closest to their current location. Users then also have the option on clicking on each of the retailers near them to see what specials the merchant is currently offering to Shopkick customers. It seems like some of the larger retailers that have close relationships with Shopkick include Best Buy, Macy’s, and Sports Authority.
The other idea behind the Shopkick application that is used to encourage users to access the application daily is driven by rewarding users with Shopkick points just for viewing the retailer’s specials by using the Shopkick application on their smartphone. Users can obtain additional points by physically visiting the retailers and checking in and also by scanning the barcodes of various products in the stores that the retailers are advertising. Shopkick users can then redeem these Shopkick points for products and gifts cards from the various retailers.
I found the Shopkick application to be interesting and useful but after attempting unsuccessfully to scan the bar codes of a few advertised products at a local Best Buy I was a little frustrated by the application as well. I can definitely see a lot of good uses for the Shopkick application and I hope that they expand the functionality included in it to possibly included automatic price comparisons and possibly an easier way to scan the barcodes of advertised products.
Have you ever used the Shopkick application in a store or any other smartphone application while shopping?
