What's the Point? Shopping!

Last week I heard Coco Jones from shopkick speak at thinkLA's Mobile Breakfast and if someone named Coco speaks about shopping, my ears perk up. I dutifully downloaded the free shopkick app as she spoke.

Mobile and shopping is a marriage made in heaven and Jones, Head of Brand Partnerships for the shopkick App told us how mobile technology will take in-store experiences to another level. Shopkick is a mobile companion that “informs, rewards and delights” by utilizing iBeacon, an indoor positioning system utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) that wakes up the consumer’s phone and provides an augmented reality experience. 84% of shoppers use smartphones in stores and 73% research before shopping.

“Shopkick takes something as ordinary as shopping and makes it extraordinary,” said Jones. “The digital overlay of an iBeacon app makes the store your store. The App captures when they enter the store, influences and drives purchases with a redemption reward. The path to purchase is a circuitous loyalty loop.”

One week later, I have 179 "kicks" or points earned towards my desired reward, a $5 Starbucks card that will cost me 1250+ points. What's the point, I ask myself? Today I ran around Target like I was on a scavenger hunt to get about 150 of my points. I got 45 easy ones for walking in the door. But then I had to find particular items and scan the barcode for another 25 points each. After about 10 minutes of this, I was annoyed.

A year ago I was in love with Viggle, another free app that rewarded you for watching television. Unlike Get Glue, you got real gift cards, not stickers. I logged into shows, watched the promo ads for extra points and accumulated rewards pretty quickly. That is until Viggle changed their fake monetary  system. Suddenly, my $5 Starbucks card went from 5000 points to 12,000 points. Then Viggle degraded further IMO by offering their own merchandise (35,000 points for a Viggle t-shirt, really?)

I loved my Fresh 'N Easy store around the corner and their weekly $5 or $10 coupons, plus my rewards card. Since the business was sold I can understand the sudden shift in lack of coupons. But now I find it nearly impossible to use the points I've accumulated.

Sometimes the reward just isn't worth the work, you know what I mean? Has anyone had a favorable rewards/points experience with an app? Do tell!