Category: Retail

Mobile shopping rewards users anytime, anywhere

Posted on by shopkick

Bill Demas, Chief Executive Officer

When I joined Shopkick as CEO a little over a year ago, one of my first goals was to craft a clear vision and set of values for the company.  Our vision became “to create rewarding shopping experiences anytime, anywhere.” Today, I’m pleased to share with you our progress delivering two key elements of this: “rewarding” and “anytime, anywhere.”

The dictionary definition of rewarding is ‘giving satisfaction, pleasure or profit.’ I am proud we have done this for our users in a few ways:

  1. Helping users earn gift cards and prizes for what they already do in store:  In our history we have given our users more than $58 million of gift cards and prizes for things they already do: visiting their favorite stores, interacting with new and popular products (via scanning), and watching videos and exploring content within our app.  Of course, we also offer a high number of kicks for buying those products as well.  Personally, I have 20,000 kicks and can’t wait to earn free Beats headphones with 30,000 more!
  2. Getting users on the move and socializing with friends:  To my surprise, we have heard from many users the social aspects of what makes Shopkick special for them. This can be re-connecting with a significant other or friends on the weekend by Shopkicking through cities or malls in the suburbs. I love the story of Surbhi from San Francisco who was Shopkicking with a friend and ran into other people doing the same. According to her, they “laughed about it and it created a bond between [them],” and new friendships were born.
  3. Helping our users’ favorite charity win a $50,000 donation from Shopkick: By doing exactly what they do every day – walking into stores, scanning product barcodes and buying product – users can help your favorite charity win the big prize.  The charities are Adopt A Classroom, American Red Cross, Feeding America, National Breast Cancer Foundation and Room to Read.

To deliver on our ‘anytime, anywhere’ promise, we are excited to share several new features for our users:

Rewards “anytime, anywhere”: Today we launched a new mobile commerce offering that works with the following online merchants with more to come: Apple, Boxed, eBay, Groupon, Jet and Spring.  Now Shopkickers can take the kick-earning actions they do in physical stores and translate them to online rewards from the comfort of their own homes! By visiting a mobile retail partner while at home – the digital version of walking into a store – users will earn kicks.  By browsing mobile offers and products – just like scanning a product in-store – users will earn kicks.  And by purchasing online, like they would do in a store, our users will earn kicks, all redeemable for those gift cards and prizes!

More gift cards and prizes, including Amazon: Our users have told us that their number one gift card addition is Amazon.  You can now redeem your kicks to earn Amazon gift cards in denominations of $5, $10 and $25.  We will also be adding Crocs and several other reward partners in the coming months.

As you can see, we are relentlessly focused on “creating rewarding shopping experiences anytime, anywhere.”  If you have more ideas or any feedback for me – and I will read it all – please don’t hesitate to reach me at ceo@shopkick.com.

In my next post, I’ll discuss our primary company value: putting our users first and obsessing about their experience.  Until next time, enjoy your summer and happy Shopkicking!

How American Eagle used location technology to create magical moments for shoppers

Posted on by shopkick

Lars Djuvik, Associate VP Retail

The use of location based technology (presence technology, proximity technology) can be an incredibly powerful toolset for connecting brands and retailers with shoppers when it’s done right.

Whether it’s creating a virtual geographic boundary around a store to remind a shopper when they are getting near a retailer that they might want to visit, or leveraging more advanced technology like beacons to remind a shopper to take an action once they are already inside the store, there is no shortage of location based marketing tools to truly serve the right message to the right person at the right time – and at the very right place.

The power of location-based technology

These tools can both verify and inform that the shopper has actually crossed “the lease line” to their store, or visited the dressing room. They can even help the brand avoid costly endcap placements by guiding a shopper to their product regardless of placement inside the store. The right balance of where, and more importantly how frequently, a shopper should receive these notifications is the real magic for marketers when they get it right. It can be downright annoying when it’s done wrong and the ‘magic’ wears off because of incorrect location or too high a frequency of messages.

In (almost) all scenarios, location based marketing notifications triggers the shopper to open the application… which is the whole point of leveraging a mobile device in-store… enabling a dialog between that shopper and the retailer.  Both sides are winning: the shopper is getting very specific information such as offers or other calls to action, and the retailer/brand is able to communicate with the shopper in a real-time/real-place. Now that the shopper is engaged in the experience and conversation with the retailer – via the mobile app – the retailer or brand earns the opportunity to show them the next proximity based offer when it’s done right. When it’s done wrong – most notably too many messages & the wrong call to action that the shopper isn’t interested in – that conversation can and will end.

At Shopkick, we leverage geofencing/GPS, beacon/BLE and other forms of location based marketing as a means to an end. We always serve the mutually beneficial goal for shopper and retailer to keep that conversation alive by being valuable to both sides and not just serving these notifications because you can.  More important than knowing when to send a shopper a notification is knowing when NOT to show them another notification.

Our specific magic ingredient in the conversation is our location and action-taken based reward currency called “kicks” where there is always something “more” in it for the shopper than just great information.  The more they engage with the app at the right time/right place (leveraging location based technology plus great content, great brands, great retailers) they earn kicks and are incentivized to stay in the conversation.  In turn, the retailer or brand has the ability to have a dialog with the shopper throughout the awareness, consideration and action stages of a purchase.

How American Eagle rewarded in-store behavior

American Eagle discovered that once their Shopkick-driven shoppers were in-store, they could layer-on a secondary offer: giving the shopper kicks for visiting the dressing room. The shoppers would already have the app open to earn beacon-activated Shopkick currency “kicks” for walking in, initiating contextually relevant messaging.

A second in-store shopBeacon was therefore placed in the American Eagle dressing rooms.  The shopper would try-on the items and receive their “fitting room kicks” by coming in proximity of the shopBeacon.

In this example, GPS geofencing was used to inform shoppers that they were near an American Eagle store.  Once they crossed the lease-line and were inside the store – where GPS is no longer accurate – we used the first (entrance-installed) shopBeacon to verify that they were indeed inside the store – and not just “near” the store.  By verifying they were in-store they de facto had to have opened the Shopkick app which is when we gave them the next offer to visit the dressing rooms.

The key is to then incentivize the shopper to take further actions that they choose with good content, such as information or products truly customized to her or him.  In this case, the mobile app (in-store) becomes their own personalized store while they are inside the store.  A real digital overlay on the physical shopping world where they can scan product barcodes, visit a specific section of the store, and ultimately – convert – without over-messaging the shopper throughout the process.

In the end, a smart use of location based marketing made for magical moments for American Eagle shoppers, and in turn both the shopper and the retailer ‘won’ because of the location based dialog pre-shopping, near the store and in-store.

Online to offline attribution with Visa

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Consumers seamlessly traverse channels throughout the shopping journey, demanding highly personalized, mobile-enabled, and frictionless shopping experiences. In delivering these omnichannel experiences, retailers can struggle to attribute the impact of digital marketing on physical shopping experiences.

In 2016, Deloitte reported that digital’s influence on in-store sales surpassed 50%, influencing 56% of all in-store retail sales.  Yet understanding this influence on a shopper-level is still a challenge for most retailers.  In fact, 67% of retail executives said their greatest obstacle in offering an omnichannel experience is tracking customer analytics across channels.

Despite roughly 90% of retail transactions still happening in stores, stores lack the real-time data and attribution that retailers are accustomed to online. Beyond just verifying store visits, retailers want to know what customers did inside their stores. Key metrics include product engagement, dwell time in-store, purchase conversion, and whether or not the sale was incremental.

Shopkick’s partnership with Visa Decision Sciences connects the dots across the entire in-store data funnel to enable true online to offline attribution analysis.  Visa measures incremental sales impact through a  “twinning” methodology whereby a control group of unenrolled accounts is created from the Visa cardholder base to match spend behavior of the enrolled Shopkick population.

Shopkick Visa Data Partnership

Analysis from January 2017 shows significant and sustained incremental sales across Shopkick’s merchant partners — sales that would not have happened without Shopkick. On average, 57% of overall sales driven by Shopkick were incremental. Of that 57%, 73% of incremental sales was driven by new customer acquisition, and 23% was driven by increased spend of existing customers.

This ability to measure not just store visits, but also sales and incrementality will unlock the potential of omnichannel marketing, and drive growth for brick & mortar retail.

Infographic: Create fun grocery shopping experiences

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Many grocers and CPG companies are struggling to keep up with changing consumer preferences in the shopping and consumption of food. In the past, grocers didn’t have to prioritize driving traffic because shoppers didn’t have many other options. Yet with the explosion of new products, services and grocery entrants, it has become increasingly difficult for grocers to drive traffic to stores, to drive sales of higher margin center aisle products, and to build loyalty.

Our latest infographic covers struggles and opportunities in the grocery market in recent years:

  • Major CPGs are also facing stalling growth: The top 25 food & beverage companies in the US drove only 3% of category growth in 2015.
  • Trips to and spend at traditional super markets is decreasing: In the past 5 years, shoppers made 27% less trips per week and spent 33% less.
  • Traditional engagement drivers aren’t working like they used to: Retailers saw a 13% annual decrease in 2016 in coupon redemption.

Trips to and spend at traditional supermarkets decreasing

Get the facts about the changing grocery environment, and how fun and engaging shopping experiences can drive store visits, product sales and loyalty in our latest infographic.

View the full infographic.

Introducing Shopkick Grocery

Posted on by shopkick

Today’s grocery shopping experience exists across two universes: the digital and the physical. Shoppers are increasingly turning to apps, e-commerce, and digital personal shopping for convenience. Amazon’s recent acquisition of Whole Foods for nearly $14b is a clear indicator that the battle for innovation in grocery is on. How can grocers continue to attract business in this ever-evolving space?

Why Shopkick Grocery?

As a shopping rewards app, Shopkick’s mission is to drive product engagement and in-store action—effectively re-energizing consumers around the modern shopping experience. For the last seven years, Shopkick has primarily served the electronics and consumer apparel industries, but 2017 marks a new venture into the grocery store vertical. 

Grocery is a large, attractive market with $770B in total supermarket sales in the US,  and we believe it’s one in which we can contribute. Adding a mobile digital layer to brick-and-mortar grocery stores is the next step in necessary innovation. With online options gaining traction, turnkey mobile solutions like Shopkick can help incentivize shoppers of all ages to continue visiting stores.

These incentives matter more than ever, especially in light of the perceived convenience of shopping online. After all, high-frequency essentials shopping can be time-consuming and cumbersome. According to a user survey, 70% of Shopkick users visit multiple grocery stores every week. This gels with 2016 FMI findings that show an average of 1.6 shopping trips per week. For many, planning the grocery trip starts long before they step foot in the actual store—from reviewing the pantry and fridge (85%) to scanning for deals and coupons (60%) to planning meals (40%) and checking with other household members (50%).  

According to Nielsen research, the most common forms of in-store digital engagement are online or mobile coupons and mobile shopping lists. However, most brands would prefer to drive users to shelves without the use of costly coupons, which can crunch profit margins and dilute their brand. Shopkick empowers these brands by offering new and innovative ways of incentivizing sales—without requiring coupons or other traditional methods.

We’re pleased to share that so far, it’s working. We’ve spent the last year in beta testing, and we’re encouraged by what we see: Shopkick Grocery users spend nearly twice what the average American spends on groceries ($59 versus $32 a visit). They also go shopping more often (an average of 2.2 versus 1.6 times weekly). Product engagement is also boosted—with users engaging 33% more with what they see on the shelf than those who don’t use Shopkick.

The reason is simple: the game of earning rewards is fun. In the context of grocery shopping, one moment of joy goes a long way, and Shopkick provides these moments at home, in the aisle, at the register, and beyond. Retailers like Whole Foods have gotten the memo, too, with efforts focused on making grocery shopping more pleasant and aesthetically pleasing overall. It’s all part of the transformation from something that feels like a chore to something one actively chooses to do—and ensuring the longevity of a tried-and-true American pastime: shopping at the grocery store.

To learn more about Shopkick Grocery, visit https://www.shopkick.com/grocery-partners or contact us.

The next generation of retail experiences

Posted on by shopkick

Is your brand prepared for the CPG shopping experience of the future? Is your retail store equipped? New, innovative technologies are powering the next generation of in-store experiences and beyond. These three tips will help you create an efficient, effective endless aisle strategy.

1. Reach Consumers Pre-Store During Micro-Moments

Busy schedules and long to-do lists have fragmented the average shopper’s attention span. Dedicated ‘shopping trips’ are becoming a thing of the past. Shopping now happens during small windows throughout the day, such as 20 minutes while waiting to pick up a child from school or arrive at an appointment.

Today’s consumers place a premium on experiences, and these micro-moments offer an ideal opportunity to engage customers with educational videos or life hacks like timesaving recipes, money-saving offers, and product alternatives before they enter the store. Retailers, grocers and brand marketers need to build on the behavioral elements that drive purchase now and extend experiences across screens, beyond the store, and around the clock.

2. Focus on time spent, not clicks

App downloads are slowing thanks to a maturing ecosystem, dropping 20% among the top 15 US app publishers. However, a year-end analysis by App Annie found that time spent in apps is up by 25% over last year, so clearly this medium isn’t going anywhere. Apps remain an important touchpoint with consumers, indicating that engagement and frequency of use are the most accurate success metrics.

Consumer attention is the currency in marketing and advertising today. Retailers and brand marketers need to understand that it’s time spent that matters most, not click-throughs or downloads. As a result, it makes sense to focus more on immersing existing customers into the brand experience than enticing new customers.

3.    Develop Mutually-Beneficial Campaigns for Customer and Brand

The strongest argument for interactive engagement in-store is that ‘endless aisle’ solutions benefit brands, retailers, and consumers alike. Cutting-edge marketing technology finally enables CPG marketers to achieve closed-loop attribution for their efforts, while retailers see additional foot traffic, more guidance and exploration in-store, and movement from the perimeter to the center aisles. Consumers have a more entertaining shopping experience, save money, and accumulate rewards simply for doing the shopping they’d already planned to do.

Your brand or store doesn’t have to build a record-breaking mobile app to succeed. Consider the role interactive technology plays in your current customer interactions and how delivering an out-of-the-box, endless aisle solution can deliver better results for your marketing efforts.

Marketing to shoppers in a populist era

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Incredible change has taken place in the US recently. Our country is different. The world is different. We’re in a populist era, which means things are changing for retailers, grocers and brands.

Today’s American shopper

Most Americans aren’t seeking convenience-focused services such as weekly meal boxes or online ordering. In fact, last year only 3% of Americans purchased groceries online. Most households are deeply value conscious and visit their local grocery stores 1.6x per week on average.

Many marketers live and/or work in the major urban hubs, which can be dangerous for brands and retailers. It’s clearer than ever that coastal cities operate as silos that don’t represent the country at large.

It is crucial for brands and retailers to be in touch with the communities they serve.

Most of our users at Shopkick are average income mothers from middle America looking for deals and rewards for making purchases.  Therefore, it’s crucial that our Postmates and Instacart-loving employees, based in the tech and agency hubs of New York, Chicago and Silicon Valley, understand that this segment has different needs and motivations than their own. We learn from our audience’s behavior, and we deliver the most relevant incentives for each touchpoint along their shopping journey: at home, when they are out and about, when they are near the store, and as they peruse the aisles.

One way to do this is to literally stay in touch with shoppers. Ask them what they like about a product or a store and what they don’t. Usually, it will circle back to the way it makes them feel. We are all human after all, and purchasing decisions are psychological and emotional.

Another important initiative is to help shoppers feel connected to your brand. They want to be rewarded and appreciated for spending their hard-earned money to take care of their families. Businesses need to understand and respect customers by offering products, services and experiences that align with their lifestyles.

For example, by spending in-person time with our customers and closely analyzing their in-app behavior, we know Shopkick customers are engaging with branded content and video in our app from their homes. Each user spends about 2.5 hours per month in the app – browsing products, watching videos, looking for kick earning opportunities, and planning her trip.

Respecting your audience’s motivations, budgets and behaviors does not have to come at the expense of business requirements. For example, discounts and coupons may influence shopping behavior, however they also cut into margins and could negatively impact the brand. As an alternative, offering rewards creates ‘moments of joy’ for shoppers, and those feel-good associations with your brand or store can increase purchases. We’ve found that rewards will motivate shoppers to go to a different retailer to buy favorite products, or to try a different brand than they typically purchase.

Understand and appreciate the shoppers of today to remain current and hit your goals. Leverage mobile behaviors. Recognize loyalty. Create a rewarding experience. And don’t forget to make it fun.