Fragrance Outlet is partnering with shopkick to bring the shopping application’s brand of step-driven rewards to its perfume-perusing customers, using beacons and location data to sweeten the deal.

Shopkick encourages users to check in at multiple steps of the in-store shopping experience to earn rewards. For perfumes, which are a product that usually require an in-store test smell, this strategy is a perfect fit.

“Our goal is to make everyday shopping fun and rewarding, and the way we fulfill that promise for consumers is by rewarding them throughout their shopping journey, from browsing products in the app when they’re at home, to walking into a store, trying things on in the fitting room, picking up products at the shelf, and making a purchase at the checkout,” said Bill Demas, CEO of shopkick. “With Fragrance Outlet for example, customers get 35 kicks just for walking in the door.

“Then at the checkout, they receive a kick for each dollar they spend and bonus kicks for spending at certain thresholds, for example when you spend $50, you receive a 150 kick reward.”

Step-by-step
Shopkick works by tracking customers’ locations and interactions in the physical retail spaces they shop.

The application tracks interactions between the consumer and the retailer, which can be anything from walking into the store to trying something on to making the purchase, and then rewards them with Kicks. Those Kicks can then be redeemed for gift cards and other promotions.

This system works to incentivize consumers to get to the main touch points of making a purchase – entering the store, examining the product and purchasing it – by offering rewards for each step.

Shopkick has had the most success with products that require in-store testing more often than others. Some products – for example, Clorox – do not require much research or investigation from consumers.

Most understand that bleach is bleach and that Clorox will do the job just as well as any other brand. Other products, such as apparel, require customers to come in and try them on before they purchase.

It is these products that benefit the most from shopkick’s step approach to consumer incentives. Perfumes, such as the ones that Fragrance Outlet specializes in, are the perfect fit for shopkick’s strategy.

Consumers tend to want to smell perfumes before they purchase them. By working with shopkick, Fragrance Outlet can incentivize consumers to get to that step of the purchasing process making them more likely to complete the transaction.

Specialty retail
In addition to its partnerships with Fragrance Outlet and other retailers, shopkick has recently spent time working on its feature set, adding video and receipt scanning to the list of ways to earn rewards.

Shoppers can view branded videos to earn Kicks or scan their receipts from the purchases they made for a smoother reward-earning process (see story).

Shopkick has also focused on improving the location data it uses to track which stores customers have entered through the use of beacons. Last year, shopkick’s global user base had increased to 15 million people thanks to the inclusion of beacons (see story).

Shopkick’s partnership with Fragrance Outlet suggests an awareness that while larger general retailers such as Macy’s and Best Buy can benefit from its business model, smaller, more specific stores with products that easily translate to incentivized in-store steps are also a large, untapped market.

“Shopkick is a digital interactive layer on the physical world, which helps retailers and brands make a 1:1 connection with consumers that’s more personalized and engaging,” Mr. Demas said said. “And because everything on shopkick is location targeted, the messaging, content and rewards we deliver to consumers is relevant to their location and point in their shopping journey.

“With a massive ecosystem of brands and retailers (more than 270,000 retail locations across the country), shopkick connects retailers and brands with new audiences to drive incremental store visits and sales revenue,” he said. “In the case of Fragrance Outlet, imagine a shopkick user is out and about running errands and hadn’t planned a trip to their store, but is reminded to check out Fragrance Outlet with a targeted message on her mobile phone.

“These messages not only offer a treat to the consumer, but also drive engagement for Fragrance Outlet. The phone is really the key to bridging the gap between home and store.”