Unilever Shopkick and Image reco

Unusual promo that includes image recognition.

Suave Promotion Brings Image Recognition to Walmart   By CGT Staff 

Unilever’s Suave brand is promoting a Veteran’s Day cause program at Walmart using new 2D image recognition technology shopper rewards app Shopkick.

From Oct. 14 to Nov. 18, Suave is donating $1 to the nonprofit Fisher House Foundation for every limited-edition Suave package purchased. The brand’s goal is to raise $1 million.

Shopkick members can use the app to interact with the Fisher House “Helping Military Families” logo on Suave’s promotional packaging to receive “kicks” — the Shopkick program’s rewards currency.

In addition, Shopkick will donate 10% of the overall campaign budget to Fisher House, which provides access to a home-away-from-home (at no cost) for the loved ones of hospitalized veterans and active military personnel.

“2D image recognition has benefits for both brands and consumers,” said Shopkick’s chief executive officer Adam Sand. “Shoppers learn about product and company benefits and brands bring attention to cool campaigns, new product or packaging and what makes them unique.” ... " 

Macy's Rolls out Biggest Beacon Installation

Location based systems continue to move forward.  In ZDNet.

" ... Macy's rolls out retail's largest beacon installation  —  Summary: Macy's expects to complete the installation by early fall, just in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season.  —  Following a test run during last year's holiday shopping season at its flagship stores in New York City and San Francisco ...  Macy's expects to complete the installation by early fall, just in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Once the rollout is completed, the department store chain said the shopBeacons will prompt users of the Shopkick to opt-in to receive store notifications. The retailer plans to begin more tailored shopper notifications in early spring 2015 ... "

The article also has a link to an article on five competitors to Apple iBeacon.

Shopkick to be Re-examined

Went back to their site,  They have a nice video playing now that shows how it works.  We looked at them early on.  They say:  " .... Over 6 million people love shopkick, making it the most-used shopping app and fourth in overall reach (alongside eBay and Amazon) according to Nielsen. We’ve partnered with retailers like Macy’s, Old Navy, Best Buy, JCPenney, Crate & Barrel, Sports Authority and Target; with Visa and MasterCard; and with top brands like P&G, Kraft, L’Oreal, and more, to make your shopping experience even better.  ... " .  I am firing up my Shopkick App again.  More later.

iBeacon for Retailers at Macy's

In TechCrunch: I Had known that Macy's had been doing work with Shopkick for some time.   I have the App on my iPhone.  A favorite experimental topic in our innovation centers.   " ...  When Apple, with much fanfare, announced iOS 7 in June, it also quietly confirmed a new feature called iBeacons, which uses Bluetooth Low Energy signalling to enable micro-location services and to trigger actions within apps. Now, Shopkick, the shopping app that lets you flag items you want and then alerts you in store to offers on those products and others you might like, becomes the first company to implement the technology in a retail setting. ... 

ShopBeacon, as the new iBeacon transmitter is called, begins trials today in Macy’s in Union Square, San Francisco and Herald Square, NYC, before Shopkick rolls it out to more of its retail partners across the U.S. ...  " 

Personal Care Brands and Mobile

In Mobile Marketing:  " ... Personal-care industry slow to embrace mobile-optimized selling  --- Manufacturers of personal care products are opting for partnerships with third-party applications such as Shopkick, sometimes in lieu of building mobile-optimized sites for their brands, according to the "L2 Digital Index: Personal Care" report, which looked at 75 U.S. brands. Fewer than half of the brands had built a mobile-optimized site, only slightly more than were participating in Target's mobile coupon program ... " 

P&G and ShopKick

In Adage:   Why and how P&G aided Shopkick.   Also hints about how large companies are connecting with technical startups these days.

Macy's and Shopkick

Macy's promotes mobile shopping for coeds using Shopkick.  In their blog.  Exclusive deals and rewards for simply walking into one of their 800 US locations.  An example of a major retailer using location based merchandising using Shopkick.  Their catch phrase: is treat yourself while shopping.

Interview with Target CMO

In Forbes:  What is in Store for the Brand.   Overview mention of a number of issues the big retailer is dealing with in marketing and merchandising, for example 'Showrooming' and the use of digital location technologies, like their recent work with Shopkick.

Target Connects to ShopKick

In an interesting development Target has connected to the ShopKick rewards program.  I spent some time looking at ShopKick and was impressed by the approach. " ...  Target guests nationwide can earn points for shopping at Target that can be redeemed for a variety of rewards. “We’ve learned from our guests that they appreciate being rewarded for doing what they already love to do -- shopping at Target,” says Bonnie Gross, Target VP marketing and guest engagement. “In our test launch, Target guests in seven cities had the opportunity to experience shopkick at Target and we received rave reviews. Now guests nationwide can start earning valuable points just by shopping our stores.”

ShopKick Partners with Visa

Followed ShopKick for a while due to their more precisely locational approach for a retailer engagement method.   Now a partnership has emerged:   " ... Shopkick, which offers instant mobile rewards for stepping into retail stores, has partnered with Visa to add an incentive to buy things once you’re there.... Starting this month, participating vendors Toys “R” Us, American Eagle Outfitters, Old Navy, Wet Seal and Simon Malls, among others, will start offering “kicks” (Shopkick’s proprietary rewards points) for buying merchandise at those stores.... "  I did try their iPhone App and still have it on my phone, but was underwhelmed by the offerings.   Worth another look.

Smartphones and Shopping

Chief Marketer dissects a recent study of smartphones for retail.   The overall conclusion is they are in heavy use for information gathering.   This study includes all uses of smartphones, whether it is in-store or not,  Useful but not surprising statistical results by age and gender.  The most surprising thing I found was in the following para, which suggests that the use of barcode scanning App is much more common than have have personally observed.  I have my doubts, will look to the original study report:.  If so this changes the interactive  landscape of in-store considerably.

" ... Asked what apps they were most likely to open when using their smartphones to shop, respondents most often cited scanner apps for 2D barcodes or QR codes (44%), followed by discount apps such as Groupon or LivingSocial (38%). And customer review apps such as the one from Consumer Reports (31%). Branded store apps were name by 26% of those polled, and 22% pointed to product comparison apps. Only 13% said they were likely to open geo-location apps such as Foursquare, Gowalla or Shopkick ... "

AT&T to Launch ShopAlerts

It is surprising that this kind of location based promotion service was not launched sooner.   Readwriteweb posts a good overview: ' ... The difference between ShopAlerts and so-called "checkin" apps like Foursquare and Shopkick, is that you don't have to launch an app on your smartphone and take any action in order to receive the coupons a retailer or brand wants you to see. Instead, you opt in one time - in this case, via AT&T's website - and then the coupons come directly to your phone when you're in the vicinity of a store offering the deal or discount ... '  -  Update: More details, initially to be available in four cities.
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