Shopkick Inc., a Delaware corporation, has revolutionized the way of retail shopping. The application connects users with local deals and discounts and rewards users for just walking into their favorite stores. Currently, Shopkick is partnered with major retailers including Macy’s, Target and Best Buy.

The Shopkick application incentivizes users to shop by showcasing their popular products at local stores and rewarding them with “kicks” for entering the store. Kicks are points that can be redeemed for items including anything from gift cards to their favorite stores or even iPads. Users can earn even more kicks by scanning their favorite items and even making purchases.

The mobile engagement aspect of the application is the driving force behind retailers’ number measure of sales: foot traffic. Furthermore, brands succeed most through product engagement and sales which can both be achieved through the application.  Shopkick is the first and only application that actually knows when a user is physically present in a store, helping retailers and brands engage with their consumers at key purchasing points.

Typically, when users “check-in” to a business using a traditional mobile application, their physical presence is not needed. That is because GPS technology is not very accurate and users in the nearby vicinity of a participating business can check-in from a block away or from the parking lot.

This serves to be an issue for retailers whose businesses rely heavily on foot traffic for most of their sales. A consumer who physically enters a store is more likely to purchase something. Many businesses incentivize users to check-in to their stores by offering deals and promotions. Therefore, a user who check-in to a store without actually walking in is ultimately useless.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

What sets Shopkick apart from traditional mobile applications is its accurate technology. Shopkick’s location technology enables the application to accurately verify whether or not a user is actually physically present in a store, something GPS is currently unable to do.

Tiny Shopkick transmitter

The application emits an inaudible signal at high-pitch frequencies that are picked up from the smartphones’ microphones. The signals are emitted either through the retailers’ existing audio systems or through small transmitters. The application decodes the signals and users then receive “kicks.”

ABOUT SHOPKICK

Shopkick co-founder and CEO, Cyriac Roeding, started the company in a basement with 5 employees back in 2009. The company has now grown to include a community of engineers, copywriters, and content curators.

Roeding was raised in Germany and earned degrees in business administration, management and engineering.

Shopkick CEO & co-founder Cyriac Roeding

Shopkick has received two rounds of funding for a total of $20 million. One was led by Kleiner Perkins and the other by Greylock Partners. After the last round of funding, the company was valued at $75 million.

Roeding’s greatest challenge was partnering with major retailers. Best Buy initially denied partnering with Shopkick. After 40 meetings and 6 months, Best Buy signed on. Target denied doing business with Shopkick four times but Roeding’s persistence and innovation eventually won the large retailers over.

Today, Shopkick has over 7.5 million users with revenue over $26.3 million.

Topics: Apps, Delaware, Small Business, Startups