Crate and Barrel Joins shopkick Alliance as 8th Strategic Retail Partner; Rewards Shoppers Nationwide Just for Walking In

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The home furnishings style icon Crate and Barrel today joins shopkick, as the latest strategic partner to deliver location-based shopping rewards simply for visiting stores. By early 2011, rewards will be delivered at all Crate and Barrel locations in the U.S.  Crate and Barrel is the third new retail partner within the last month, further accelerating the speed at which the shopkick location-based shopping app is gaining scale.  

Crate and Barrel is the first shopkick retail partner who signed on for nationwide rollout of the program right from the beginning. This Saturday, December 18, in time for holiday shopping, Crate and Barrel shoppers can start earning rewards and offers at all Crate and Barrel stores in the greater Chicago and New York metropolitan areas, simply by walking in with the shopkick app on their smartphones.

Within weeks, shopkick will be live in all Crate and Barrel locations nationwide, with complete rollout expected by February 2010.  Crate and Barrel joins the seven current shopkick retail partners American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Macy's, Simon Malls (the nation's largest mall operator), Sports Authority, Target, and The Wet Seal.

"shopkick starts a dialogue with our shoppers right when they walk in, turning our stores into interactive worlds.  We are proud to join shopkick's powerful alliance of America's best retail brands," said Sascha Bopp, Chief Operating Officer of Crate and Barrel. "We can now reward our customers just for coming to see us, and are excited to explore additional ways to interact with them on their smartphones through the shopkick app."

The shopkick app detects a shopkick Signal, emitted from a patent-pending device, located in each participating store, to deliver rewards called "kickbucks" to each user. kickbucks can be collected at all partner stores and redeemed for in-store gift card rewards or discounts at top retail stores, or song downloads, or movie tickets and hotel vouchers, Facebook Credits to play games online, donations to 30 different causes and charities and more. And, because the detection occurs on the user's mobile device, the privacy of presence information is completely under the user's control.

"Crate and Barrel is the first partner to roll shopkick's location-based rewards to all its stores nationwide right from the beginning – based on the very positive results we've delivered to partners in the four months since launch. This directly answers our users' no. 1 request – to add more top brand stores in all regions," said shopkick Co-Founder and CEO, Cyriac Roeding.  "Crate and Barrel's stylish brand and products fit perfectly with the shopkick alliance. We are very excited to welcome them as a partner."

The shopkick app also lets users:

• Get even more kickbucks for scanning and learning about products and services
• Receive special offers, for example, a discount on specific products at participating retailers or double the kickbucks for check-in during promotional periods
• Earn kickbucks from every retailer and redeem them at any partner retailer

Currently more than 1,100 individual stores across multiple retailers and 100 of the country's largest malls have fully deployed shopkick's technology. In addition, at more than 230,000 other stores across America, shopkick offers smaller rewards for "checking-in" and scanning products from leading brands, including Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble.

The shopkick app is available for free on the iPhone and on Android. Apple users can download it from the App Store or at http://itunes.apple.com/app/id383298204 and on the Android Market at www.shopkick.com/download.

About shopkick (www.shopkick.com)

shopkick is a new Palo Alto-based startup funded by Kleiner Perkins's iFund, Greylock Partners and Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook and Zynga. shopkick, Inc. brings the power of the mobile internet to the retail experience. shopkick launched its mobile application CauseWorld in the United States in December 2009, in partnership with Citi, Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble, which became the fastest-growing location-based retail app in the App Store within weeks. In August 2010, shopkick launched its flagship service by the same name, the first mobile application that hands rewards and offers to consumers simply for walking into stores and malls. With blue-chip partnerships including American Eagle, Best Buy, Macy's, Sports Authority, Target, Wet Seal and Simon Property Group, the largest mall operator in the United States, shopkick immediately reached national coverage by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, ABC, NBC, CNBC, Fox, CNN, TechCrunch, Business Insider and most other major news outlets.

About Crate and Barrel (www.crateandbarrel.com)

Multi-channel home furnishings retailer Crate and Barrel was founded in Chicago in 1962 by retailing pioneers Gordon and Carole Segal.  Working directly with European ateliers and factories to import their products, Crate and Barrel was among the first to make contemporary tabletop and kitchenwares designs affordable to American consumers. Today, Crate and Barrel is an industry leader, known for exclusive housewares and furniture designs, excellent value and superb customer service. In addition to a thriving direct marketing division, the company operates stores in most major North American markets, including Toronto and Calgary. In early 2010, Crate and Barrel partnered with franchisee Al Tayer Group to open the company's first overseas stores in Dubai. Currently under the leadership of CEO and President Barbara A. Turf, the Crate and Barrel family of brands includes its more modern off-shoot, CB2, and childrens' home furnishings retailer, The Land of Nod. Crate and Barrel is a privately held company owned by the Otto Group of Hamburg, Germany.

SOURCE shopkick