SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2011--
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), a global leader in payments and shopkick, an
award-winning mobile app that rewards consumers for simply walking into
stores, announced today that cardholders can now qualify for valuable
rewards just for paying with Visa. Shopkick now lets mobile users earn
more redeemable kicksTM by choosing to link their eligible
Visa debit or credit card into its new Buy & Collect program and then
making qualifying purchases at participating shopkick merchants with the
linked card. Shopkick users have the option to earn more rewards while
shopping in their favorite stores and merchants can increase sales and
better measure the effectiveness of their location-based marketing
efforts.
“Through our relationship with Visa, we have closed the loop – rewarding
shoppers at every step of the shopping process from discovery to
purchase. No one else is doing that. We combine our popular walk-in
rewards with rewards for purchase,” said
Cyriac Roeding
, co-founder and
CEO of shopkick. “Shoppers get more rewards, and our retail partners get
more shoppers and purchases– all made possible through the Visa network
– it equals a win-win-win.”
Shopkick aims to dramatically improve consumers’ shopping experiences
in-store by offering an award-winning app that rewards them just for
walking in. At the core of the mobile shopping app is the patent-pending
Shopkick Signal ultra-precise location technology, which lets the user’s
shopkick app detect its presence in enrolled stores accurately and
seamlessly, automatically crediting rewards to the right account, and
delivering offers relevant to that retail location.
Now, through Visa’s real-time messaging platform, shopkick merchants can
offer Visa cardholders rewards not only for visiting and browsing in a
store, but also for making qualifying purchases while they are in the
store. Registered shoppers will qualify for Buy & Collect offers such as
“spend $40 and receive 250 kicks,” while they are in the store. The
first shopkick merchants offering Buy & Collect include American Eagle
Outfitters, Arden B., Old Navy, Toys”R”Us, and Wet Seal – available
immediately in participating shopkick locations.
The relationship with shopkick’s Buy & Collect program aligns with
Visa's ongoing commitment to deliver greater value to financial
institutions and merchants, while enhancing the consumer shopping
experience.
“Visa’s ability to analyze transactions in real-time provides retailers
a new way to reach enrolled customers while they are shopping and to
measure the results of their marketing efforts – so they can deliver the
right offer to the right consumer at the right time,” said
Leigh Amaro
,
senior business leader, Information Products, Visa Inc. “Further, the
alliance with shopkick can make shopping with a registered Visa card
even more rewarding – in turn, helping financial institutions add value
to card programs while enabling merchants to realize increased sales.”
In keeping with best practices of security and privacy, consumers must
opt-into the program to participate. They receive detailed information
on how the program works and can conveniently opt-out at any time. “As
consumers embrace new technology to enhance their shopping experiences,
we think it’s important for Visa account holders to decide if the
benefits of this program make sense for them," said Amaro.
How it works
1. Existing shopkick app users will be automatically alerted to the
availability of the new Buy & Collect program and those
who are new to the app will be notified of this additional, optional
program.
2. App users choose to opt in to the new program and link their
Visa account on an enrollment page hosted by Visa. When cardholders
choose to register their Visa credit or debit card, they agree that Visa
will provide shopkick with information regarding their transactions at
participating merchants in order to enable shopkick to provide kicks
rewards on qualifying purchases.
Participation in the new Buy & Collect program is completely optional,
and Visa card registration is not required to sign up for the regular
shopkick service.
3. Shopkick app users who opt in to the Buy & Collect program will see a
green payment card icon on their “nearby” screen to let them know there
are additional offers at participating merchants. By tapping onto that
merchant, they’ll see the buy and collect offer such as “Spend $20, get
400 kicks” at the top of the page.
4. Shopkick app users who opt in to the Buy & Collect program can make
a qualifying purchase with their enrolled Visa card at participating
Buy & Collect merchants.
5. After swiping their enrolled Visa card, shopkick app users receive
real-time notification from shopkick that their kicks rewards are
banked.
About Shopkick:
shopkick, Inc. is a Palo Alto-based startup funded by
Kleiner Perkins'
iFund, Greylock Partners and
Reid Hoffman
, founder of LinkedIn, and
investor in Facebook and Zynga. In August 2010, shopkick launched the
first mobile application that hands consumers high-value rewards, offers
and exclusive deals at shopkick’s national retail partners simply for
walking into stores and malls. Even more rewards can be earned for
scanning partner brand products at over 250,000 stores nationwide. In
combination with a groundbreaking new location technology called
“shopkick Signal”, the app can verify location within feet, and because
the detection occurs on the phone, privacy of presence information is
completely in the users’ control. Shopkick’s growing partner alliance
includes American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, Macy’s,
Simon Property Group, The Sports Authority, Target, Toys“R”Us, west elm,
The Wet Seal, Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Intel, HP and The
CW. shopkick is the only 100% performance-based marketing platform in
the physical retail world, with measurable foot traffic and transactions
at stores. The app grew to 2.5 million users in its first 15 months. The
free shopkick app is available for the iPhone and Android.
About Visa Inc.:
Visa Inc (NYSE:V) is a global payments technology company that connects
consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more
than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital
currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world’s most
advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more
than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for
consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and
does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for
consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution
customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of
time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information,
visit www.corporate.visa.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50080052&lang=en
Source: Visa Inc.
Press & Analysts:
Visa Inc.
Kate Flannery,
+1 415-932-2564
globalmedia@visa.com
or
shopkick
Martha
Shaughnessy, 415-593-1400
martha@atomicpr.com