4 ways to improve customer experience in retail

4 ways to improve customer experience in retail

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Friction is the biggest obstacle to a positive customer experience in retail. Whether it’s waiting in line at the cash register or getting lost in the aisles, struggling to find a salesperson, or discovering your order isn’t ready for pickup, customers feel frustrated and annoyed by these moments and are ultimately unlikely to return to retail stores the more they occur. 

With retail innovations like automation and rewards, store owners have the opportunity to reduce friction and improve customer experience across the board. Alleviating these challenges can have significant positive impacts on sales, customer satisfaction rates, and overall revenue. In a recent study of 15 enterprise retail leaders, NTT DATA Solutions found that those who prioritized reducing customer friction achieved a 48% improvement in revenue growth and a 45% improvement in net income compared to those with poor friction ratings. The following four strategies will help you replace friction-filled experiences with those that are personalized, exciting, and positive. 

#1: Prioritize Speed And Convenience

Most brick-and-mortar stores are designed to strategically move customers past as many products as possible in order to get what they came for. That impulse-buy trapping strategy is quickly falling out of favor with audiences who are accustomed to online convenience and next-day shipping. As seen in the buy-online-pickup-in-store model, speed should really be prioritized above all else. Additional sales, surprisingly, are positively affected as a result.

Streamline Store Layouts

It’s time to rethink the classic milk-and-eggs strategy, where retailers put the most crucial items at the back corners of the store. Innovative store locations are putting must-have items (like the BOPIS station) right up front so customers can find what they need quickly and easily. Surprisingly, customers still end up making plenty of add-on purchases before they find their way out the door—so it pays to make things quick and efficient.

Introduce Frictionless Checkout

Checkout lines are some of the most annoying staples of CPG stores—so certain players are starting to innovate without cash registers at all. Amazon Go store locations utilize machine learning and computer vision to make convenience stores 100% more convenient. If frictionless checkout isn’t in your immediate future, consider increasing staffing at checkout to relieve pressure and improve wait times. 

Optimize the BOPIS Experience

According to the same report from NTT DATA Services, 50% of surveyed stores couldn’t fulfill a same-day BOPIS order, and only 33% could fulfill an order within one hour. These are immediate opportunities to reduce friction and improve customer experience. By investing in automation and improving stocking logistics, stores can ensure that the items being ordered are in stock and ready to pick up in a timeframe that meets (or exceeds) customer expectations.

#2: Improve Omnichannel Consistency

NTT Data Systems found that a significant number of retail leaders fell behind in the area of online ordering. The worst sites required customers to re-enter processing information multiple times and complete 25% more steps before checkout. Your goal should be to create a seamless online experience that remains consistent with the convenient experience you provide in stores. That way, customers get a far more positive omnichannel experience from your brand and are more likely to offer their loyalty.

According to the same report, 26% of surveyed retailers provided very different experiences between their online and physical locations. If this sounds like an issue for your company, consider implementing the following strategies:

  • Invest in an updated website. Too many retail sites are cluttered, clunky, and slow to load—all of which contribute to customer frustration and cart abandonment. Investing in updated eCommerce strategies and a streamlined sitemap will do wonders for improving customer satisfaction scores and increasing online sales. 
  • Make returns and exchanges easier. One of the biggest perks of ordering from an eCommerce giant like Amazon is the speed and efficiency of returns and exchanges. While your business may not be able to reach the heights of speed at Amazon, you can certainly make returns easier with generous policies and convenient in-store options.
  • Resolve billing problems quickly. A report on enterprise fashion brands found that problems with billing, multiple charges, and trouble resolving credit card issues ranked high on the list of customer complaints. You should aim to make your online bill pay system as smooth as possible to avoid these high-tension moments. 

#3: Revolutionize Staff Training

Believe it or not, staff interactions (or lack thereof) often produce the highest volume of friction-filled moments for customers in retail stores. All too often, it’s the sheer lack of adequate staffing that leads to customer annoyance and refusal to return. Increasing staff numbers at high-traffic times can significantly improve customer satisfaction scores. The rest of the time, improvements in retail technology and staff training can ensure that every customer need is met in a more-than-satisfactory manner.

Increase Automated Tools

Well-equipped retail apps offer customers the opportunity to carry a store associate in their pocket. From in-store mobile navigation to digital store maps and mobile price checks, these automated tools can make a customer’s path to purchase much quicker and easier. Try implementing some of these automated tools in your stores, or experiment with beacon technology and digital store map kiosks to help customers get what they need. 

Experiment With Mobile Registers

In lieu of frictionless checkout, many major retailers are launching teams of mobile registers—staff members who roam the aisles and can complete purchases directly from the shelves. This is a particularly timely solution for the months leading up to the holiday season, where frantic shoppers are looking for any way to avoid lines. Advertise your new mobile register offering, and you’ll likely snag a few desperate time-conscious shoppers.

Prioritize Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution training materials are ever-evolving for staff members at retail stores—but they’re even more important now in the age of instant gratification. Customers expect conflicts to be resolved swiftly and courteously, and to be offered some form of compensation in return for their trouble. By offering plenty of staff members and training those employees on proper conflict resolution techniques, you’ll go a long way toward ameliorating and pleasing disgruntled customers.

#4: Create Innovative Experiences

Reducing customer friction is only half the battle when it comes to improving customer experience in retail. After you’ve created a truly seamless experience, customers still expect more. They’re looking for an experience—a memory—that will help them feel aligned with your brand. Innovative retail experiences create brand advocates. And through the omnipresence of social media, brand advocates are what will improve your sales the most.

Launch Experiential Concepts

Experiential retail stores are becoming increasingly popular, and for good reason. They’re exciting, new, and perfectly Instagrammable. Experiential concepts like the House of Vans in London or the Nike House of Innovation in New York offer customers exactly what they’re looking for: an attraction, and not just a retail store. Try launching a pop-up experiential concept to see how much buzz your brand can generate. 

Personalize Your Marketing

Go beyond birthday coupon emails and offer your customers a personalized marketing experience backed by the latest mobile technology. One study found that personalized customer loyalty programs brought a 71% satisfaction rate and brought in 2.7 times more members than those that weren’t highly personalized. These strategies allow you to connect directly with your most loyal customers—those who opt-in because they want more from your brand.

Offer Truly Unique Rewards

A powerful rewards program can help beef up your marketing strategy and offer customers high-value rewards that don’t rely on slashing prices. With a third party app like Shopkick, you can reward customers for going on adventures in your stores and opting into targeted advertising experiences. Shopkick rewards program partnerships often see impressive ROI’s and a significant 

By reducing friction in your retail stores and offering customers positive experiences in exchange, you’ll solidify their loyalty and provide an experience they’ll want to talk about online and in person. This is the most effective way to holistically improve customer experience in retail, and it’s a powerful way to increase revenue as a result. With the four strategies above, you’ll be well equipped to tackle the challenges of today’s retail environment and provide an experience that customers will appreciate. 
Shopkick is an innovative retail rewards app that’s changing the way shoppers, retailers, and brands think about everyday errands. Our partners use Shopkick to provide uber-valuable rewards to their customers and increase market share, sales, and revenues as a result. Contact us to learn more about how an app like Shopkick can help you improve the customer experience in retail.

25 days of Christmas shopping: Saving tips for your 2019 budget

The Christmas season is officially here, and (sing it with me, now!) these are a few of my favorite things: goodwill, cheer, and Christmas shopping saving tips! Yes, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year, if you love Christmas shopping—which I do! 

With three boys in the house, Christmas is also my favorite season for building family memories (and not just because the threat of coal in their stockings keeps all of my guys in line!) My boys, however, are not the only ones on my list. Just like last year and the year before that, I have quite a bit of Christmas shopping to do. But this year, I have a list. I don’t mean my usual shopping list, it’s a list of 25 Christmas shopping saving tips that can keep my 2019 budget from turning as red as Rudolph’s nose. 

If you’re as excited to go holiday shopping for your friends and family as I am, here are 25 more great reasons to look forward to it! Consider these shopping savings tips my Christmas gift to you this holiday season.

25 Christmas Shopping Savings Tips for 2019

Get smart. And by that I mean, go Christmas shopping with your smartphone. December is cold—in some places, very cold! If you want to wrap up in a blanket and shop from your couch, you do you. And, there are plenty of apps out there that will reward for shopping, whether it’s online, in-store, or both—and I’ll be sharing all of my favorites below! 

2 | Get in the mindset that saving money can be fun. Which brings me to my next 23 tips….

Christmas shopping3 | Apps are your friends, so show them some love. My philosophy is that there’s strength in numbers during the holiday shopping season. You’ll want to roll with three or four apps like they’re your personal shopping crew.

4 | Charge your phone before you go shopping. Don’t think you need to be reminded in this day and age? Think again. Your phone is your lifeline to your apps, as well as your shopping list. Forgot what little Bobby wanted? Don’t worry, he emailed you an Amazon link. No idea what to get your dad? Call your mom. She’s the only one that knows he recently picked up skateboarding. Otherwise, you might be heading back to the mall to spend a little more later when you realize you haven’t yet nailed the perfect gift.

Get your kicks with Shopkick! I actually love using the shopping app Shopkick all year long, but it’s also my favorite way to earn money for Christmas gifts. Shopkick makes the crazy insanity that is Christmas shopping insanely fun, while also helping you effortlessly earn free gift cards for walking into shops, as well as for buying gifts in-store and online. Each year, my Christmas budget is getting bigger and bigger thanks to my Shopkick rewards. 

6 | Download apps that have holiday gift guides. These tech-based shopping buddies can give you ideas in every price range so you can check off every last person on your list this year without blowing your budget. 

7 | You must have an app that gives you cash back for purchases. There are apps that give you cashback by racking up points, as well as coupon-based apps that save you money upfront. As fun as Christmas shopping is, you know what’s even more fun? Getting paid to shop!

Christmas shopping savings8 | Use an app that introduces you to new products. I get it: familiar products are comforting. But haven’t you bought your grandma that same scented lotion for six years running now? She probably still has two bottles under her bathroom sink. Time to mix it up! Bonus: New products sometimes have introductory prices saving you some pretty pennies, or your favorite app may offer bonus points toward rewards when you buy featured products. 

9 | Don’t forget to socialize! Everyone’s busy this time of year, but you can usually make time to go out shopping together, so pick out an app that you can use with your friends when you do, turning the sometimes crazy business of Christmas shopping into a fun social experience. Some apps even let you earn points toward gift cards when you get your friends to download and sign up, which can go a long way toward saving this season.

Do not—and I repeat—do not be afraid to embrace coffee. It’s hard to really focus on how to save this holiday shopping season if you’re dragging. And, you may just find that you can cash in on a Starbucks card for a free coffee ahead of your afternoon spree if you were using your rewards apps wisely in the morning!

11 | And download the Starbucks app to get points for all the coffees you’ll be drinking—even the free coffees you earn from shopping rewards apps!

12 | Taking advantage of holiday shopping hours. Remember that staying out late is your friend, especially when combined with tips nine and ten above! Put those kids to bed, like I do, then stock up on the late-night deals offered at your local retail stores. 

13 | Download retail store apps. These store-specific apps reward loyalty for repeat business—because you and I both know that your Target runs are going to be daily instead of weekly this December.

14 |  Download the Target app. Speaking of Target, download their app pronto for an even better shopping experience at a store that has basically everything. If you need more convincing, just go ahead and refer back to the tip above!

Make time to browse. Yes, having a plan is crucial to successful Christmas shopping, but some of the best bargains I’ve found have been sales on things I didn’t even know I was looking for. You can browse in-store or in your favorite shopping rewards app.

16 | Download the Ulta app. The Ulta app is the ulta-mate (get it?) way to check your besties off your list. Oh, and while you’re at it, make sure to get yourself something from Ulta, too—since you’re saving so much this holiday season. You’ve earned it! And if you haven’t, I’m sure you’ll earn it very soon in the form of a gift card from your favorite shopping points app. 

17 | Give Google Opinion Rewards a try. For a cash influx to support your budget, try filling out some surveys through Google Opinion Rewards. It only takes a few minutes to earn and redeem rewards you can use to boost your Christmas budget.

18 | Find an app that gives you points for walking. Walking into stores, that is. Look, sometimes even your favorite store is a bust when you’re shopping for a specific person on your list, but the very best shopping rewards apps actually let you earn points and savings just for walking in the door of your favorite stores. 

19 | Don’t exceed the cash limit in your office Secret Santa this year. I know I’m always tempted, but I find I buy more creative gifts when I stick to the limit, while at the same time saving a bit of money on my shopping.

Download the Best Buy app. Tech and gadgets are the hottest gifts year after year. Best Buy has a very cool app if you have any tech-savvy friends or family members on your list—and you know you do. 

21 | Make sure you’re earning points for shopping online. We’ve mentioned this a few times, but it deserves its own place on this list. Make sure that the same app that gives you points for shopping in your favorite store, gives you points for the shopping you do online too. Because, let’s be honest, Amazon Prime shipping is an honest-to-goodness lifesaver, amiright?

22 | Try out coupon apps. I know, couponing is so 5 years ago, but there are some modern coupon apps, like Honey, that help streamline things, and that you can combine with apps like Shopkick to help you save even more money on your Christmas shopping—and your Christmas grocery list. 

23 | Go on a scavenger hunt. Remember tip #2? Saving money can be fun! Using the Shopkick app to go on the hunt for the perfect gift puts the playfulness back into your Christmas shopping—and helps you get back into the Christmas spirit of surprises, for yourself and your loved ones!

24 | Don’t forget to put all these apps you’ve downloaded to use. Take a moment to make a plan, and wake up your smartphone, before you step out of the car. When I’m really busy, I keep it simple: I open up Shopkick, and the app for the store I’m about to walk into. When I’m really, really busy, I just load up Shopkick, because almost no matter where I am, I’m earning rewards for browsing and buying. 

Don’t forget your own self-care. This is less of a Christmas shopping savings tip, and more of a tip for your own emotional well-being: take a quiet night for yourself at some point to simply enjoy the holiday season. Heat up some cocoa. Put on your bunny slippers. Watch your favorite holiday movie (Love Actually!). And sit back, relax—and maybe peek at all the rewards and savings you’ve racked up on Shopkick and the rest of your favorite shopping, coupon, and store apps.

The Ultimate Tip to Save While Christmas Shopping This Year

Christmas shopping saving tipsI want to leave you with some words of wisdom and encouragement. With Shopkick, there are tons of ways to earn rewards right from the app—no need to go anywhere. These include kicks for watching videos and instant surprise kicks from going on Easter egg hunts right within the app itself. Users can also earn big points and rewards by shopping on their phones at stores like Amazon, Walmart, and more. I know I have!

With Shopkick, there are tons of ways to earn rewards right from the app—no need to go anywhere.

I hope you find these Christmas shopping saving tips helpful—but I know you’ll like using Shopkick as much as I have. It’s just so much fun to get your kicks with it, earning points from things like walking into stores, going down aisles, browsing products, and making purchases. Plus, the money you save can make all the difference in your Christmas budget this year!

It’s time to get your kicks! Shopkick makes shopping a rewarding experience, no matter what time of the year it is. Download the app today and do your Christmas shopping to earn kicks and boost your 2019 budget from red to green! Then keep on using it into 2020 to keep the savings rolling in.

The best ways to earn cash back for shopping with friends

My best friend Ella and I have known each other for a very long time. We’ve conquered middle school together, high school, and now we’re so happy to be college students. Of the many things we do together, one of our favorites is shopping—we’re most definitely shopaholics. Ella always snags the best finds but I’m always on the hunt for the best bargains and deals. One day we were out shopping at Ulta and I asked her if she had any rewards to redeem for cash back and she had no idea that was even a thing!  

I’m not going to lie, it felt good to be the one helping Ella discover something new for a change. We spent the weekend chatting and I told her everything I knew about how shopping rewards programs help me stretch my money now that my budget is pretty tight in college. Together, we came up with three easy ways to earn cash back shopping with friends—and now we want to share with you, too!

Use Store-Specific Apps to Earn Cash Back When Shopping

The first idea for how to earn cash back shopping with friends that Ella and I came up with was to start using those apps that are specific to certain stores. Some of our favorite places to both shop and hang out—like Starbucks, Target, and Ulta—have their own apps. The point is to reward loyal shoppers there, and we’re happy to accept. If you have a different favorite shopping mecca, look them up on the app store. Chances are, they’re as tech-savvy as we are.

I just realized that coffee can taste as good as it smells (thank you, white chocolate mochas), so I’ve been using my Starbucks app a lot lately. Starbucks rewards you with special free items when you’re a frequent visitor, which my friends and I are—especially when we’re fueling up for a shopping spree or study session. 

My forever favorite, though, is the Target app. Target gives you special notifications about deals and sales so you never miss out on stocking up on lip gloss and other essentials at killer prices. And, if you like to sometimes just hang out and browse around at Target like we do, you can even use it to find out what’s in stock and what’s not. 

Some of our other favorite store apps include: 

  • Fandango
  • Sephora 
  • Marshalls
  • T.J. Maxx

Become an Instacart Shopper to Earn Cash

Expenses as a college student seem to rack up, especially when you have to buy actual textbooks. One way we’ve found to earn some extra cash for school expenses is by working part-time for Instacart. Basically, Instacart is a job where you get paid to go shopping for other people. This is what we’ve started to call the other Insta (the first one being Instagram, obviously), and Ella and I have already found plenty of ways to love it.

Here are some reasons we are Instacart-ing super hard lately:

  • Flexibility: The best part about Instacart is that it’s flexible, so we can go after classes, on weekends, or whenever else we feel like it, really. 
  • Cash: Plus, this is literally someone else paying you to go shopping. They tell you where to go and what to buy, and you get paid for it—sometimes as much as $20 an hour.
  • Time with Friends: And since it’s so flexible, you can easily make plans to do this together, which for obvious reasons is just so much more fun than doing it on your own—although that’s always an option, too.

How Shopkick Helps You Earn Cash Back Shopping with Friends

earn cash back shopping with friendsThe last (and, tbh, the best) way to earn cash back shopping with friends is through this app called Shopkick. There’s a lot to love about Shopkick, but, personally, I think the best part is that you can combine it with all the other ways to shop that we talked about above—especially the Starbucks and Target store apps. See, Shopkick turns going shopping into a scavenger hunt: you hunt down featured products to get your kicks (kicks are points that you can later turn into free gifts cards or cash back).

Ella and I absolutely love Shopkick, and there are endless ways to earn kicks, like shopping for leggings at Fabletics, checking out the newest makeup at Ulta, or even getting tickets to the movies early with Fandango through Shopkick’s mobile shopping option. We’ve been using it pretty much whenever we buy anything, whether it’s while we’re hunting for deals at the mall, working part-time for Instacart, or even just to earn money shopping online while hanging out in each other’s dorms. 

Shopkick turns going shopping into a scavenger hunt: you hunt down featured products to get your kicks.

So yeah, those are the best ways to earn cash back for shopping with your friends that I’ve found so far. Shopkick is probably our favorite because you can combine it with the other two. They’re all good, though, and it’s crazy to think that we ever went shopping before without earning points and rewards for it.

I hope this helps you up your own shopping game. Oh, and if I can give you one last piece of advice, it would be to combine Shopkick with your own Instagram stories. You don’t have to be as good at it as my best friend Ella (really, no one is), but you can have a lot of fun showing everyone that you know how you get your kicks. I know I do!

It’s time to get your kicks by earning cash back for shopping with friends! Shopkick makes shopping a rewarding experience in so many cool ways. Download the app today and head out on your own shopping scavenger hunt to start earning kicks instantly!

Image courtesy monstArr on BigStock

Learn how to increase footfall in your retail store

Learn how to increase footfall in your retail store

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Of all the challenges currently facing the retail industry, declining foot traffic seemed to be the first that emerged. Therefore, it’s one of the first challenges brands seek to overcome. Increased foot traffic leads to more repeat visits, higher customer satisfaction rates, and, most importantly, increased sales. 

The good news is, traffic numbers in CPG and other retail stores haven’t been falling as consistently as popular media sites report. Research shows that U.S. foot traffic actually maintained steady growth in the months since Q4 2017, and has only recently started to turn back down from its highest peak. 

This trend is clearly variable—which indicates that if you can figure out how to increase footfall in your retail store, you have the potential to make a big impact. The following strategies will help your brand to attract, retain, and grow the number of in-person visitors to your stores so you can experience all of the associated benefits.  

Invest in Location-Based Marketing 

Geofencing, personalized store greetings, and other location-based marketing strategies help retailers and brands harness the immense power of mobile location services. Location-based marketing technology draws customers into store locations and incentivizes them while they’re there—assuming you can overcome the big opt-in challenge.

Utilizing All of the Available Tools

According to a recent report, 84% of companies use location-based marketing to target ads or promotions, and 94% plan to do so in the future. To get the most bang for your buck, make sure you’re balancing your efforts between all the potential strategies available—including geofencing, geotargeting, and geoconquesting—and utilizing tools across all available channels.  

Seeing the Power of Greetings

Walmart may be phasing out its staff of blue-vested greeters, but that doesn’t mean at-the-door greetings aren’t valuable. Location-based marketing takes that concept into the future by sending shoppers personalized greetings when they enter retail stores. Customers get a personalized marketing experience, and brands get their products top-of-mind.

Getting Customers to Opt-In

The biggest challenge of location-based marketing is getting customers to turn on their notifications. Proximity messaging only reaches customers who opt-in, and a significant number of people restrict all notifications on principle. Shopkick offers one innovative solution—as a third party rewards app that offers rewards for store visits, we reward shoppers for opting in, in the ways that matter most to them.

Try Buy Online Pick Up In-Store

This strategy strikes the perfect balance between online convenience and in-person immediacy. Buy-online-pickup-in-store strategies are so effective, 68% of surveyed consumers say they made multiple such purchases in the past year.

BOPIS strategies tend to increase store-wide revenue beyond the value of the original online orders. That’s because 85% of surveyed customers make additional in-store purchases when picking up their online orders. To maximize your success with buy-online-pickup-in-store, consider the following best practices: 

  • Situate your BOPIS station at the front of the store. Customers are already going to make additional purchases while they’re inside—so don’t make it harder for them! Keep all of your BOPIS activity close to the door and minimize queuing to create a smoother customer experience
  • Optimize logistics for faster pick-up speeds. Work to streamline your notification system so customers are notified that their purchase is ready within three hours or less. And ensure that their orders are ready when you say they’re ready. The faster your pick-up speed, the greater your sales revenue.
  • Incentivize customers with future deals. BOPIS hasn’t yet reached full saturation in the marketplace, and certain customers may require a bit of coaxing to give the system a try. Forty-six percent said they’d be more likely to use BOPIS if they were offered future deals as a bonus.

Offer Rewards—Not Flash Sales

Markdowns may entice customers to get in the door, but they also eat heavily into profit margins. Certain rewards programs and apps offer customers even more satisfying rewards that actually have a positive impact on your bottom line.

The truth is, well-designed customer loyalty programs (and apps) have the potential to drive sales more than any other channel. Why? Because they encourage the most loyal, bought-in, bottom-of-the-funnel customers to visit your store more often and give you even more of their time. An app like Shopkick can help you educate customers about new products, greet them when they enter store locations, get them to interact with your products in the aisles, and reward them for their immediate and repeat purchases. Here’s how that process played out for the following brands: 

Kraft

Leading up to the holiday season, Kraft partnered with Shopkick to inspire consumers with in-app recipes and winter-themed content. This drove customers to Walmart stores. They were rewarded for physically interacting with the products and purchasing all three of the featured baking items. This campaign raked in 18M+ impressions and increased sales from 55% unplanned purchases.

Purina

Purina used Shopkick to deliver aspirational ad content to app users. Using proximity messaging and branded greetings, Shopkick reminded users of the product as they got closer to the store. With small incentives, Purina managed to stay top-of-mind during habitual shopping trips and inspired shoppers to try their new product—with 85% of shoppers indicating that their choice was motivated by Shopkick.

Rimmel London

Targeted ads in the Shopkick app helped paint Rimmel London as a top beauty brand to their most valuable customers. Proximity messaging reminded shoppers of their product line and incentivized customers to see past the clutter of the cosmetics aisle and choose Rimmel London for their next purchase. Thirty-eight percent of those shoppers had never used Rimmel London products before. 

Once you figure out how to increase footfall in your retail store, you’ll tap into all of the benefits explored above. For instance, a recent report found that 71% of in-store shoppers spent $50 or more, compared to only 54% of online shoppers. It’s clear that something about the in-person shopping experience drives more revenue per visit than other channels—and by investing in location-based marketing, BOPIS, and customer rewards strategies, you can make sure those traffic numbers keep climbing. 
Shopkick is the most innovative retail rewards app on the market. Through location-based strategies and powerful rewards, we help our partners increase foot traffic and drive sales. Contact us to learn more about what a partnership with Shopkick can do for your brand.