Shopkick: Loyalty Program for Shopping
While gassing up my car enroute to the Country Inn & Suites Dulles stay that will earn me 50,000 Club Carlson points, I saw a placard advertising a new mobile app — Shop Kicks. It invited me to sign up and then stroll around the Exxon convenience store earning points. Huh.
I get in the car and ask Jeanne to look it up, trying to figure out how the business model would work. I love Topguest but I still don’t know what businesses get out of it.
Shopkick was founded by people with serious business creds, so its legit. Its website claims it’s an easier way to get shopping rewards:  “You just do what you love doing anyway—walking into your favorite stores like Target, Macy’s, Best Buy, Crate&Barrel, Old Navy, Toys”R”Us, Exxon and Mobil convenience stores, and more” That’s right, I can’t wait to stroll through my favorite Mobil convenience store…
But anyway, we download it and then take the opportunity to try it out at Macy’s. Some stores give you “kicks” for walking in the store, others, like Macy’s require you to hunt down a specific item and scan it to earn your points. In this case it was actually helpful because it introduced me to a new jean line that I otherwise would have ignored.
I’m still skeptical, I mean I don’t want to be accessing 8 different apps on my phone every time I go somewhere to make sure I’m getting all my points, but it looks like it could be worth exploring. I like that there’s a low threshold for redeeming kicks. Awards start at 500 kicks for a $2 Target gift certificate and include things like Macy’s, Starbucks, Best Buy, Lowes, Chilis, etc. Most stores appear to award 30-50 kicks a visit, so 10 visits gets you $2 for something you were already doing.
If I’ve inspired you to try it, I’d appreciate it if you sign up via my referral link: http://get.shopkick.com/modesto3757. You’ll get 50 points and I might be able to hit their refer 3 people get 2,000 kicks promo. 🙂
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Heels First is the travels and tribulations of two twenty-something frequent fliers jumping into the world of travel. Join Keri and Jeanne as they tackle mileage runs, elite status, and of course–the perfect travel accessories.
Great, now everywhere we go: Did you foursquaretopguestfacebookshopkick?
🙂