Shopkick's New User Interface Takes Catalogs and Sunday Circulars Mobile; Reminds Shoppers of Items 'Liked' at Home When They Enter a Store

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Shopkick, the largest real-world shopping app, today reveals a completely re-imagined look and user interface enhanced with more chances for shoppers to earn rewards, and an entirely new way for brands and retailers to engage in an ongoing dialogue with them – from browsing stores and products at home all the way through the time of in-store purchase.

Each new element of shopkick (3.0) benefits both partners and shoppers, who can now: 

• Discover:  Anytime, anywhere browsing of content-rich 'lookbooks' reveals must-have items by store or brand. Replaces a stack of catalogues; convenient without clutter!
• Save:  Simply drag and tag desired products  – then walk into a partner store, and an on-screen reminder will display when those saved products are available
• Locate:  A quick glance reveals high-value shopping areas, making it simple to plan the most fruitful route that also minimizes the number of trips taken

See how shopkick works and the new design here (video): http://youtu.be/ejx1LdgcUPA

Shopkick has already driven incremental revenue to its 13 retail partners and users have logged more than 10 million physical store walk-ins and 20 million in-store interactions with its 50+ brand partners' products. Its rapid success helped make shopkick the most-often-used shopping app – with over three hours of use each month per user. It's the 4^th most widely used shopping app after eBay, Amazon and Groupon, and ahead of any physical retailer's own app – this was part of why the World Economic Forum (WEF) named shopkick a Tech Pioneer 2013.

So why change?

"After two years in the market, we took a deep look at what we've learned from our users and partners, and asked ourselves, 'If shopkick didn't exist, then how would we build it based on everything we know now?'" said Cyriac Roeding, CEO and co-founder of shopkick.

Shopkick usage patterns revealed intent generation at its best. Shopkickers log on nine days per month, and on six of those days they are not at the store, they are at home on the couch or at work, browsing new offers and planning their next shopping trip. This was only one of the insights into user behavior that motivated the shopkick team to make the experience even better — for shoppers and partners.

"Shopkick 3.0 is all about inspiring our users to visit the stores they love, find products they should know about, and remember the ones they saved at home by alerting them when they walk into the store to get their walk-in rewards ," continued Roeding. "Shopkickers will now be rewarded for browsing their favorite retailers and products, so with more ways to accumulate rewards. We've created a beautiful app that encourages our users to treat themselves."

It is a convenient way for shoppers to learn about products in a way that naturally aligns with behavior in the physical world, only now made even better through rewards. It is the digital overlay on the physical store experience, with personalization, entertainment and rewards.

For retailers, shopkick brings more informed shoppers to the store; those who have previously seen what they offer. And, they come to the store not just for discounts, but for the things they already know they love and will most likely want to buy. For brand manufacturers, shopkick provides better, more frequent ways to connect with shoppers, letting them influence and inspire intent to shop all along the path to purchase, from the couch all the way to the cash register.

Shopkick gives partners a way to connect with shoppers:  

• Daily:  High-impact mobile 'lookbooks' let people browse, select favorites, and earn kicks from the couch or on the go 
• Weekly:  From weekend grocery and quick errands to trips to the mall, shopkick engages people by rewarding walk-ins at favorite stores or interacting  with brands 
• Monthly:  Kicks — the high-value, cross-partner currency earned by browsing, scanning and visiting stores — can be redeemed for all sorts of treats, from store gift cards to dinners, movie tickets and song downloads

Since shopkick was first available, a little over two years ago, it has added dozens of national retailers and top brands, making it the one platform that gives people a way to turn everyday errands into a truly valuable experience.

In 2012, shopkick:

• Hit over 1 billion in-app deals viewed and 1 billion in-app views of retailers
• Nearly doubled product scans; more than 20 million, from 10 million in January 2012, 7 million in August 2011 and 3 million in February 2011
• Crossed 10 million verified walk-ins to partner stores in September 2012, up from 2 million in August 2011
• Surpassed 4 million users

Shopkick is available for free on the iPhone from the App Store at www.itunes.com/appstore/ and for Android from Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shopkick.app.

About shopkick, Inc.

shopkick, Inc. is the largest real-world shopping app, and the first mobile application that hands consumers high-value rewards, offers and exclusive deals at its national retail partners simply for walking into more than 7,000 stores and malls, and for interacting with partner brand products at over 250,000 locations nationwide. In 2012, Nielsen rated shopkick the most engaging shopping app, ahead of any online or physical retailers' apps.  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 4 million users in little over two years. The free shopkick app is available for the iPhone and Android.

Shopkick's growing Partner Alliance includes American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, ExxonMobil, Macy's, MasterCard, Old Navy, Simon Property Group, The Sports Authority, Target, Toys"R"Us, west elm, The Wet Seal, Visa, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Revlon, Unilever, Levi's, Intel, HP and more. The Palo Alto-based startup is funded by Kleiner Perkins' iFund, Greylock Partners and Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook and Zynga. In 2012, the World Economic Forum (WEF) named shopkick a Tech Pioneer, an honor previously given to Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia.

SOURCE shopkick