Retail Therapy with a Side of Shopkick

Shopping has always been something I have excelled at and it doesn’t take any convincing for me to join in for some retail therapy, which is why I was very interested when I heard shopkick was trying to make shopping more enjoyable.

Shopkick is a location-based shopping app available for download on iPhones or Android phones. Users are rewarded with “kicks” for something as simple as walking into the store and also have access to special offers by scanning barcodes on certain items. The idea is to make shopping more fun and do away with the customer having to shuffle through countless plastic cards to find that $5 reward card because with shopkick, it is all in one place.

Currently, stores like Target, Best Buy, American Eagle and Old Navy are using the app. Target made the shopping app available nationwide a couple of months ago after receiving positive reviews from the testing period. Target shoppers can expect rewards like a $2 gift card for 500 kicks. American Eagle just announced that it would also be rolling out the location-based mobile rewards app in all of its U.S. stores. American Eagle has been testing the app since 2010 and after seeing a boost in sales, more traffic in stores, and more engaged customers, it was decided to make it available nationwide. At American Eagle, 1,250 kicks will result in a $5 American Eagle gift card and if you are using a Visa card that is linked to the program, you can expect to get more kicks with your purchase.

Who doesn’t want to tally up their kicks so they can get a special offer? I envision serious shoppers competing to see who can rack up points the fastest and for the mild shopper, simply collecting points for something you would ordinarily do is satisfying. And no matter what kind of shopper you are, I would guess there would be some added loyalty to participating stores in order to keep getting your kicks.