ShopKick is like a Mall Scavenger Hunt

Do you like to shop? Perhaps you work at or spend loads of time at the mall? Would you like to earn rewards for your favorite stores just for stopping by and get extra rewards for your everyday purchases? Well, I have an awesome app to tell you about! Shopkick is an iOS app that basically turns your iPhone and your local shopping mall into a scavenger hunt to earn “kicks” aka points you can redeem for gift cards or items instantly! Shopkick is essentially an ingenious marketing platform where brands and stores reward customers just for visiting the store. With a store based GPS, the ShopKick app knows when you have walked into Target and gives you points simply for walking in. So, now that they have you through the door, what else can they do to entice you to spend money by turning it into the guise of kick collecting activities? Well, you can also earn points by finding and scanning certain items in store. This is really where the scavenger hunt begins. For instance, I went to Target the other day with my ShopKick app in hand and went around the store looking at coffee creamers, gum, magazines and diapers all in an attempt to scan the item for extra kicks. Of course, the stores in question are hoping that you will find the item, like it and then buy it, but being that I am not in the market for diapers, it was easy for me to pass on the item. But other things, like new Healthy Choice meals and current issues of popular magazines really had me thinking that this app is a craft, crafty devil!

Okay, so you can enter stores for points, and scan items for points, but what about earning points for my purchases? Perhaps you went into Target to pick up a cute swim suite and not just to play a very odd high tech game of scavenger hunt? Well, in certain stores, you can link your ShopKick account with your credit card so that when you make those normal everyday purchases your actually getting extra kicks for those as well! And they do add up rather quickly! Granted, you may need to get over the whole “I’m giving the app my credit card information” weirdness, but after that you are actually earning some serious points.

Well, I signed up and I am getting kicks left and right, what can I actually get with these points? Good question! You can actually redeem your points for a number of items, gift cards to target, sephora, starbucks. Eateries like Papa Johns and Restaurant.com. Free RedBox rentals, magazine subscriptions and much more! Now, of course, depending on the number of kicks you have accumulated you will be able to redeem your points for bigger and better items. For 500 kicks, you can get a $2 gift card to Target, for 1000 you get $5. For 425 kicks you can get a free RedBox rental, for 1250 a 6-12 month magazine subscription. 75,000 kicks will earn you a Kate Spade purse, 125,000 a Kitchen Aid mixer! So, that is an idea of what the points will earn you, but how quickly can you get to 1,000 kicks, or 2,500? Well, let me give you a little personal perspective. When I went out to play my scavenger hunt at Target, I also hit the nearby mall. At just a few stores I quickly earned over 500 kicks and that was without spending money! So, if you are someone who frequents the mall, you may find that after a few shopping trips you have earned a $10-$25 gift card and that is without linking your credit card to your ShopKick account. Linking your card earns you even more points. For example, if you spend $75 in Old Navy, you earn 1,000 kicks! That’s a $5 gift card just for making your normal purchases and it can add up week after week.

Overall, I think ShopKick is a clever marketing app that helps drive revenue to stores in a high tech new age medium. For those of us strong willed enough to avoid the sales traps, this app could actually end up being a fun way to earn free stuff and a shopaholics best friend!