Sony Stores Join shopkick Partner Alliance -- Enticing Holiday Foot Traffic with Rewards

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Stores today join shopkick, the largest real-world shopping app, to offer rewards in the form of "kicks™," shopkick's proprietary reward currency, to shoppers for visiting stores, browsing lookbooks, or interacting with products. Linking a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card to shopkick's Buy and Collect program turns qualifying purchases at a Sony Store into even more kicks. Right in the shopkick app, shoppers can redeem kicks to treat themselves with gift cards—including Sony Store gift cards-song downloads, movie tickets, Facebook Credits, donations to charity and more.

"Sony's awesome products often top holiday wish lists. Now gift-givers can get rewarded with shopkick kicks while shopping for a Sony Cyber-shot digital camera or TV for a loved one, at one of Sony's thirty U.S. locations," said Doug Galen, Chief Revenue Officer of shopkick. "From collecting kicks while browsing high-impact lookbooks or from walking from store-to-store and browsing products, a shopper can quickly earn enough kicks for a free cup of coffee or eventually a stylish set of headphones. This year, donations to charity have been especially popular, with more than 30,000 individual redemptions for the Red Cross's Sandy Relief fund."

Shopkick gives shoppers frequent opportunities to turn everyday errands and shopping into treats:  

• Daily: 'Lookbooks' act like virtual catalogs, letting shoppers browse, select favorites, and earn kicks from the couch or on the go 
• Weekly:  From weekend shopping trips to stores or malls, shopkick rewards walk-ins at leading national retailers and for interacting with popular brands and products
• Monthly:  Kicks can be cashed in for all sorts of treats, from store gift cards to dinners, movie tickets, spa treatments, song downloads and more

To inaugurate the partnership, Sony Stores are giving away free earbuds, a $9.99 retail value, to any shopkicker who visits a Sony Store and uses the in-app offer to claim the gift before Thanksgiving Day. In addition, through Black Friday, the amount of kicks available for walking into Sony Stores or browsing through its in-app lookbook is higher: 200 for visits and an additional 50 for viewing content within the lookbook.

"We're thrilled to add shopkick's innovative and interactive rewards technology to our service toolkit. Sony Store Guests already enjoy our unique in-store experience and great Sony products and services – now we can provide another treat in the form of kicks, and bring our latest and greatest products to their attention by using shopkick's beautiful signature lookbooks," said Michaela Ion, Senior Manager of Guest Experience, Sony Stores. "And to help us 'kick off' the holiday season in style, we're going to have a fun gift for shopkickers who visit our stores before Black Friday."

Shopkick is available for free for Android from Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shopkick.app and on the iPhone from the App Store at www.itunes.com/appstore/. See how shopkick works here (video): http://youtu.be/ejx1LdgcUPA.

About shopkick, Inc.
shopkick, Inc. is the largest real-world shopping app, and the first mobile application that hands consumers high-value rewards, offers and exclusive deals at its national retail partners simply for walking into more than 7,000 stores and malls, and for interacting with partner brand products at over 250,000 locations nationwide. In 2012, Nielsen rated shopkick the most engaging shopping app, ahead of any online or physical retailers' apps.  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 4 million users in little over two years. The free shopkick app is available for the iPhone and Android.

Shopkick's growing Partner Alliance includes American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, ExxonMobil, Macy's, MasterCard, Old Navy, Simon Property Group, Sony, The Sports Authority, Target, Toys"R"Us, west elm, The Wet Seal, Visa, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Revlon, Unilever, Levi's, Intel, HP and more. The Palo Alto-based startup is funded by Kleiner Perkins' iFund, Greylock Partners and Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook and Zynga. In 2012, the World Economic Forum (WEF) named shopkick a Tech Pioneer, an honor previously given to Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia.

About Sony Electronics
Headquartered in San Diego, Sony Electronics is a leading provider of audio/video electronics and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Operations include research and development, design, engineering, sales, marketing, distribution and customer service. Sony is noted for a wide range of consumer audio-visual products, such as the BRAVIA® LCD and 3D high-definition televisions, Cyber-shot® digital camera, Alpha Digital SLR camera, Handycam® camcorder and Walkman® personal stereo. Sony is also an innovator in the IT arena with its VAIO® personal computers Reader devices and Sony Tablets; and in high-definition professional broadcast equipment, highlighted by the XDCAM® HD and CineAlta™ lines of cameras and camcorders, and the SXRD™ 4K digital projector. For more information, visit www.sony.com/news or join the Sony Community: www.sony.com/blog;  www.facebook.com/SonyElectronics; www.twitter.com/SonyElectronics; www.youtube.com/SonyElectronics; and www.pinterest.com/SonyElectronics.

There are 38 Sony Store locations nationwide and can be found by visiting http://store.sony.com/storelocator.

SOURCE shopkick, Inc.