Best Buy's "shopkick" app is expected to personalize the shopping experience

Consumer electronics giant Best Buy is in the process of trialing a new location-based experiment that will provide shoppers with special promotional offers and rewards through their smart phones. First being tested out on 187 of their stores nationwide starting today, Best Buy is hopeful in getting it out rolled out to a total of 257 stores by October 1. Basically customers will be able to download the “shopkick” app, which is available right now on the App Store, where it'll be able to detect whenever a customer enters a store and delivers them specific “kickbucks” which they can saved over time – eventually being able to redeem them as Best Buy certificates. Although iPhone owners will have the first crack at checking out this feature, it's expected to become available shortly to Android users as well. In addition, the retailer has integrated shopkick into their point of sale system to easily process the redemption offers available to customers. The nice thing about the “shopkick Signal” technology over something like other location-based services which require you to “check-in,” it'll detect your presence when you enter an actual retail store – so the detection process is initiated on the customer's phone. Best Buy's VP of Marketing Services, Matthew Smith said, “We think consumers have more opportunities than ever to bridge their digital and physical shopping experiences, particularly through smart phones and mobile technology. We intend to explore ways we can use the power of location-based technology to personalize a Best Buy shopping experience, from check-in to check-out, with rewards and offers delivered right on a customer’s smart phone.”

via Cell Phone Digest