Best Buy Expands Takes Shopkick Nationwide – Earn Rewards for Just Coming In

On May 22, 2011, customers using the shopkick shopping app will be rewarded simply for walking into any of the almost 1,300 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores nationwide. The rollout will make Best Buy the first of shopkick’s launch partners and first consumer electronics retailer to provide this mobile shopping experience for consumers through targeted offers and rewards on a national scale. Best Buy originally unveiled shopkick in 257 stores and the nationwide launch will now place shopkick in all 1,296 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile U.S. locations.

“Our customers are always on the go and are increasingly looking for tools that fit into their daily lives to make shopping easier. Through our partnership with shopkick, we can provide these experiences when they want them,” said Drew Panayiotou, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Best Buy. “Now, Best Buy shoppers across the country can get rewarded not just for shopping, but simply for walking into one of our stores.”

Since launching shopkick last August, Best Buy has seen a notable influence on consumer shopping behavior. By providing unique reward incentives, offers and engaging gaming features through shopkick, Best Buy has been able to drive in-store traffic, increase consumer engagement with CE brands and products through scans, and engage with customers via their smart phones on the go.

Combined, these components have piqued shoppers interest and given them more reason to visit their local Best Buy store. Specifically, Best Buy has run tests that show incremental lift in traffic when they increased rewards for walking in. Additionally, Best Buy is pleased to see customers choosing to redeem “kicks” rewards at Best Buy stores.

How It Works – Sound Not GPS

The shopkick app, combined with the first walk-in location technology, the shopkick Signal – an inaudible sound emitted from a patent-pending device located in each participating retailer – verifies a user is in-store, and then rewards them for visiting in the form of a currency called “kicks”. Verifying presence in-store assures retail partners that the marketing dollars input to the shopkick program are being spent to reward customers who are actually inside the store. This is something not possible with traditional location-based “check-in apps,” because they rely on GPS technology that has an error radius of typically 500 yards on mobile phones when apps are first opened.

Consumers looking for more information can go to BestBuy.com/Shopkick or download the free Android or iPhone app by texting “shopkick” to 332211.