Mobile retail: shoppers earn “points” for going to Best Buy

“Just walk in and collect.” That’s the tag-line for a new service from Best Buy. All you have to do is walk into a Best Buy branch, and you earn reward points that you can redeem in-store. How does it work? Through your mobile phone, thanks to location-based technology from shopkick.

What’s the story?

Mobile retail is a rapidly growing field. Thanks to mobile devices you can now access interactive mall maps, access group discount shopping clubs, comparison shop from the grocery store by scanning barcodes, and access local deals and promotions from your phone screen. According to research firm Latitude, shoppers are eager from even more mobile services that will make their grocery shopping “interactive”.

Today, electronics retailer Best Buy has taken it a step further by announcing a mobile location service that will reward you for simply entering the store. The service takes the form of a mobile application from mobile retail developer shopkick. The app is somewhat like Foursquare – it uses the GPS technology in your handset to detect what location you are in. Unlike Foursqaure, the shopkick app doesn’t require you to actively check-in. It simply detects when you have entered a Best Buy store, and automatically adds reward points to your Best Buy account.

So far, it’s only available for a single Best Buy store in San Francisco – but Best Buy has announced it will be launching in further markets in the coming weeks.

Cyriac Roeding, co-founder and CEO of shopkick explained whey they thought this technology was necessary:“We asked ourselves: ‘If foot traffic is the challenge for physical retailers, then why does nobody ever reward consumers for walking into stores?… Our ‘shopkick Signal’ technology is so precise that for that first time, location-based rewards are economically viable for retailers, because consumers are truly inside the store, rather than elsewhere in the vicinity of the store, such as the parking lot.”

For an overview of how it works, check the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esAPuqCQ5Z8&feature=youtube_gdata

What we think?

And so it begins. I’ve heard this predicted before – that reality will become something you collect “rewards” for. In the same way that you can unlock achievements for your Xbox games, mobile devices will now help you unlock achievements for the things you do in real life. Walked into a Best Buy? Ding, 5 points! Drove over 500 miles in your new Merc? Ding, 50 points! Bought three pairs of pants from the same store inside a 6 month period? Ding, 25 points!

I can’t tell you whether I’m excited or dismayed by this development. On the one hand, it’s no bad thing to earn points for going about your regular life. On the other, it could lead to an inappropriate level of brand involvement in consumer life. I guess each person will reach their own balance.