News

Shopkick signs Best Buy, Macy's for iPhone app launch

April 28, 2010

In anticipation of its shopkick retail mobile application debut this summer, the Palo Alto startup of the same name announce it has added Best Buy and Macy's as launch partners. Using cell phones to turn physical offline stores into "interactive worlds," the shopkick app will follow on the heels of the company's first app, CauseWorld, which quickly became the market's fastest-growing mobile location-based retail application.

According to a press release, the app's technology promises to transform brick-and-mortar stores into worlds where consumers receive personalized offers, product information and peer advice, as well as guidance on which stores have the best offers. The shopkick app will dramatically improve the shopping experience of consumers, the company says, and enable retailers to use mobile phones to drive customers, increase brand loyalty and boost their bottom line.

As part of a recent trial with shopkick's CauseWorld app, which also engages customers in retail stores through cell phones, Best Buy offered a special 10 percent discount to CauseWorld users redeemable at its stores nationwide. As a result, shopkick immediately saw a high single-digit response rate. And Macy's became a partner due to shopkick's new performance-based business model and its potential for consumers.

"We have looked at many potential partners, and believe shopkick is the most interesting model for us to take a bold step into the mobile-meets-retail world," said Martine Reardon, EVP Marketing, Macy's.

"We created shopkick to reduce lost foot traffic and untargeted advertising in the physical retail world - and dramatically improve the consumer shopping experience," said shopkick co-founder and CEO Cyriac Roeding. "With Best Buy and Macy's on board as partners, we have two of the world's leading retailers as launch partners. We couldn't be more excited than to work with them. Our new app shopkick is going to change the way retailers engage with their customers. We are also inviting other retailers to join us for this launch."

shopkick's first app CauseWorld, currently in the market, is a free, location-based mobile application for iPhone, iPod touch and Android phones, which allows users to collect "karma points" while shopping, and turn them into real cash donations to charitable causes. Consumers are also using CauseWorld to scan barcodes of products for extra points.