Shopkick and ExxonMobil Partner to Pump Out Rewards to Consumers

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Shopkick, the largest location-based shopping app that rewards shoppers simply for walking into stores and interacting with products, today announced its entrance into the retail petroleum and convenience store space in partnership with ExxonMobil.  As of today, shopkick is pumping out rewards at more than 375 Exxon or Mobil branded-retail locations in and around Miami, New York City and Washington D.C.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120403/SF81154)

The pilot program is designed to help Exxon and Mobil branded retailers strengthen consumer loyalty by enhancing the shopping experience. ExxonMobil joins more than 11 national retailers and 40 major brand partners in shopkick's distinctive cross-retailer rewards program including, Target, Kraft, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble and American Eagle. Rewards – called kicks – can be earned and used with participating retailers.

"This is a great new retail vertical for us," said Doug Galen, Chief Revenue Officer, shopkick. "Exxon and Mobil branded locations have many of the products we all buy.  With shopkick's rewards, consumers will love the convenience of earning rewards at ExxonMobil pilot market locations and then the ability to spend those rewards at our participating retailers."

To provide high-value rewards to shoppers actually walking-in stores, the shopkick app detects a shopkick signal, emitted from a patent-pending device located in each participating store and picked up by a shopper's smartphone handset. Because the store is focused on rewarding actual visitors, it then delivers "kicks" via the app, which can be collected at all participating partner store locations. Kicks are redeemed for in-store gift cards, song downloads, movie tickets, Facebook Credits, donations to 30 different causes and charities and more.

Because shopkick is able to accurately detect actual presence inside participating stores, partner retailers ensure that marketing dollars put into the shopkick program are being spent to reward customers who are physically present in the store, translating into higher value rewards for the shopper.  

"We understand that consumers have many choices when it comes to shopping for convenience items. Now, through shopkick we can express our appreciation to patrons as well as encourage them to keep coming back by rewarding them each time they visit," said Chris Mahoney, U.S. Branded Wholesale Manager, ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing Company. "Additionally, this program supports ExxonMobil's value proposition, as we look to innovate and build our overall loyalty offerings, which already includes return and earn, a pump price rollback program, and program offers such as Speedpass™  and the ExxonMobil Personal Card."

Launched in August 2010, shopkick quickly became the largest location-based shopping app in America. It is available for free on the iPhone from the App Store at www.itunes.com/appstore/ and on Android Market at http://shopkick.com/android.html.

About ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world's growing energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading inventory of resources, is the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products, and its chemical company is one of the largest in the world. For more information, visit exxonmobil.com.

About shopkick, Inc.
Shopkick, Inc. is a Palo Alto-based startup funded by Kleiner Perkins' iFund, Greylock Partners and Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook and Zynga. In August 2010, shopkick launched the first mobile application that hands consumers high-value rewards, offers and exclusive deals at shopkick's national retail partners simply for walking into stores and malls. Even more rewards can be earned for scanning partner brand products at over 250,000 stores nationwide. In combination with a groundbreaking new location technology called "shopkick Signal", the app can verify location within feet, and because the detection occurs on the phone, privacy of presence information is completely in the users' control. Shopkick's growing partner alliance includes American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, Macy's, Old Navy, Simon Property Group, The Sports Authority, Target, Toys"R"Us, west elm, The Wet Seal, Visa, Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Intel, HP and more. Shopkick is the only 100% performance-based marketing platform in the physical retail world, with measurable foot traffic and transactions at stores. The app grew to 3 million users in its first 18 months. The free shopkick app is available for the iPhone and Android.

SOURCE shopkick