Target will be kicking the tires with check-in rewards for smartphone users, as the retail giant will be piloting the Shopkick Apple iPhone app in 242 of its stores in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City and San Francisco.
We’ve covered the Apple iPhone app Shopkick before when it debuted in some Best Buy stores. Basically, the Shopkick app rewards customers for entering a store with “kickbucks” that can be redeemed for virtual goods and this can also lead to discounts on the physical goods.
“At Target, we recognize our guests are connected through a multitude of mobile and social networking technologies,” said Steve Eastman, president, Target.com, in a prepared statement. “Innovative mobile applications, like shopkick, provide a fun and engaging way for our guests to connect with Target, while earning valuable rewards which can be easily redeemed for future in-store purchases.
Unlike other check-in services which offer deals like Foursquare or Facebook Places, the Shopkick app doesn’t just rely on GPS or WiFi triangulation to pinpoint where a user is. Instead, the retailer has to install specific equipment which emits a high-frequency signal which can be picked up by the phone when the app is running.
Because of the additional hardware requirements, the Shopkick app may be more difficult to implement for retailers than a deal from Foursquare or Facebook Places but with Target and Best Buy on board, the mobile shopping startup is off to a good start. The flip side to the burden of the new hardware is that retailers can be assured that the customer is actually in the store and not a few blocks away – that can often happen with wonky GPS in some phones.
Shopkick also uses a cost-per-customer or cost-per-transaction model, so that may be more appealing to retailers than some other solutions.