Shopkick Gets Another Big Partner: Crate And Barrel

Dan Frommer

2010-12-13T14:00:00Z

Shopkick, the mobile commerce/location startup that competes with Foursquare and Facebook, just scored another distribution deal with another big-name retailer.

Crate and Barrel, the furniture and home goods store, will install Shopkick in all of its U.S. stores by next February, and in its New York and Chicago stores by this Saturday, Dec. 18.

Shopkick is part "check-in" app and part real-money rewards program. Shoppers earn deals and points worth real-money rewards, in exchange for coming into stores and scanning barcodes with their iPhones or Android phones.

But is anyone actually using it?

Shopkick refuses to say how many people are using its apps, so the only way to know that it might actually be succeeding is that it keeps getting new, big-brand stores to participate in its program. It is already working with American Eagle, Best Buy, Target, Macy's, Sports Authority, and Simon Malls, the biggest U.S. shopping mall company.

And American Eagle has already quadrupled the number of its stores with Shopkick presence, to 200 from 50, after 3 months of using it, we're told.

Here we are in Times Square. (Gross.)

Oh, hey, it's American Eagle. Let's check it out.

We pop open the Shopkick app on our iPhone. It picks up a signal from this box in the corner.

This is Shopkick's in-store hardware: It's a box emitting a special-pitch sound that's inaudible to humans but that your phone can hear. This is how your phone knows that you were actually in the store. (There's no reason to reward you for just walking by, or cheating by "checking in" from across town.)

We get 35 "Kickbucks" just for walking in the store. It actually works really quickly.

We also unlock some sort of obligatory badge, the "founders" badge, for being one of the first Shopkick users.

We can now earn more Kickbucks for doing stuff in the store, such as stepping into a dressing room.

Presumably, we'd be trying clothes on in here, and then buying it. But for now, we're scanning a barcode.

Our Shopkick app recognizes it.

Validating...

And we earn another 35 points.

We can also get points for scanning the barcode on these "jeggings," which are being promoted in the store right now.

There's also room in the app to promote discounts and deals. Shopkick gets a commission on your entire purchase if you buy something that's being promoted in Shopkick.

Let's try it again at this Best Buy near the office. We walk in...

And BOOM! 75 Kickbucks for walking in the store. It actually works!

Best Buy is offering 10% off a single item. We might return...

So, what else is in the app? Here's an area where you can see your rewards or bonuses.

Here's where you see bonuses that you can unlock.

What are all these Kickbucks worth? For now, a few rewards including Facebook credits, the Sex and the City DVD, etc.

It looks like 250 Kickbucks can be redeemed for $1 worth of gift certificates right now, starting at a $2 Best Buy gift certificate. But Shopkick's cofounders tell us that these exchange rates may fluctuate based on the merchant. This isn't a fast way to earn a lot of money, but it's not as bad as it could have been.

Utilities screen.

Here's Shopkick cofounder and CEO Cyriac Roeding demonstrating the app at American Eagle for today's launch.

Roeding used to work at CBS as their mobile guru, and has attracted backers including Kleiner Perkins' iFund, Greylock, and LinkedIn founder Reed Hastings.

What's in it for this American Eagle marketing guy? Ideally, more customers in the store, more sales conversions, and more revenue. And customers who think they're in a "cool" store because they have a check-in app without having to build their check-in own app.

Bonus: iPhone cookies from today's event.

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