Privacy Information :: Score loyalty points for walking in a store

Keep the Information Flowing

Small contributions go a long way. Your donation to Consumer Action, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, can help us cover the cost of research, writing, and translation of our materials. To keep our services free for those who need them. Select an amount to give.

Released: August 04, 2010

Score loyalty points for walking in a store

Source: Claire Cain Miller, NY Times (Free Registration)

Stores generally do not know that a customer has visited until the customer buys something on the way out. A start-up, Shopkick, is betting that stores would also like to know when shoppers enter and reward customers for doing so.

Shopkick is an app, which will be available in the next few weeks on the iPhone and later for other kinds of phones, that retailers can use to track when shoppers have entered a store and reward them with points or discounts.

Other location-based apps, like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, also function as virtual loyalty cards. Shopkick says it is different in a few critical ways.

Read Full Article: Score loyalty points for walking in a store