Shopkick Android and iPhone App Review - get rewards and great deals for
shopping and browsing
[UPDATE: May 29, 2012 - After the latest update for Shopkick
there was an incredible promotion going on at Target which gave
you a bunch of Kicks just for showing up at Target and more for
scanning products. The only problem? It never made a connection
so I never got all of those Kicks and I wasted quite a bit of
time and pissed off my wife.]
The Wall Street Journal calls Shopkick "the number one shopping
app." Hey, I shop. And I like things that are number one. And
best of all, it's free. So I downloaded it.
Shopkick is an app that automatically gives you rewards called
"kicks" when you visit certain stores and/or check out specific
items. Then once you've acculated enough "kicks" you can trade
them in to purchase a pretty large variethy of products and
services including Facebook credits (which I frankly have no
idea what those are), iTune gift cards, a Bluetooth headset,
even a cruise (good luck accumulating enough for that one). Add
to that the fact that they notify you with some pretty amazing
deals at the stores you love, makes it so that shopping is a
more fun experience. I even agreed to go to the mall with my
wife (not something I usually do voluntarily) just for "kicks."
It's unlike other "check-in" apps in that it actually gives you
something for your activity. Sometimes you even get "kicks" for
just entering the store. If the marketing people at retail
outlets don't see the benefit of this technology then maybe the
companies should start their search for new marketing people.
Some of the stores included on the Shopkick list are Best Buy,
Macy's and Target and they say that their list is growing
monthly. I'm sure that's true because at last count the number
of users on iPhone and Android devices had surpassed 1.5
million.
So, how does it work? First, go to you app store on either your
iPhone or Android device and search for Shopkick. Download it,
register and you're set to go.
I decided to give it a try at Best Buy
(the video demonstration is below). I opened the app and
clicked on the Nearby tab, which showed me all of the
participating (and I think some unparticipating) stores and
my distance from them. I entered Best Buy and my phone gave
me a "Woohoo" informing me that 55 points were added to my
account. I then clicked on the Scan tab and was shown a
number of products within Best Buy that I could find and
scan to earn even more "kicks."
I wasn't able to locate the exact printers they had on their
scan list, but I was able to scan ink cartridges, cameras
and GPS systems and accumulated 125 points before leaving
the store.
As I explored the participating stores in the app, some of
them gave me "kicks" just for clicking on them.
If you click on the Faves tab you will find a number of
nearby offers at participating stores like JC Penny, Target
and others. One of the links was to Treats & Eats and
offered deals on food at Panda Express, TGI Fridays, Olive
Garden and other restaurants. Since I eat almost every
day, I like this area.
From time to time you will also receive Shopkick messages
with coupons and other deals at particpating stores. So, how
do you use one of these deal offers? Here's what the
Shopkick help page
tells you:
"I just got a Best Buy offer! Now how do
I redeem it?
Tell the cashier at Best Buy that you are a shopkick
user and give them your cell phone number, and have the
cashier type in your cell phone number into the RZ/SK
number entry field on their cash register. Any
applicable shopkick discount will automatically and
magically appear on your receipt. :)"
Sounds good, but I can see that it might be an issue if
the cashier isn't familiar with the procedures. We'll
see.
All in all it seems like an excellent marketing tool for
stores and a great way to save some money and explore
new products for consumers.
The Rewards tab, which gives you a list of the products
and services you can get for your "kicks" includes low
end items like a Best Buy $2.00 gift card for 500 kicks,
up to a Princess Cruise for 6, 250,000 kicks.
I want the cruise. So, let's just do a quick
calculation. If I can get 100 "kicks" every time I visit
Best Buy I will only have to visit the store 62,500
times to get enough "kicks" for the trip. If I go there
every day, I'll be ready to pack my bags in a mere 171
years.
