JCPenney picks shopkick mobile app to reward customers

Just in time for the key holiday shopping season, JCPenney shoppers will be able to earn "kicks," shopkick's proprietary reward currency, along with special offers from JCPenney, when visiting the retailer's nearly 1,100 store locations across the country. To celebrate the launch, JCPenney will be offering shopkick users additional kicks for a limited time when they visit a JCPenney store.

"As more and more people adopt smartphones, mobile devices are quickly becoming a key shopping tool and the integration of mobile Internet has become key to delivering a modern, in-store shopping experience," said Debra Berman, senior vice president of marketing for JCPenney.

"Through our partnership with shopkick, we are able to cater to today's mobile savvy consumer and take our in-store shopping experience to the next level by rewarding and engaging customers who are already shopping inside a JCPenney store."

When a shopkick user walks into a participating store, the app detects the shopkick signal emitted from a patent-pending device, which is picked up by the shopper's smartphone. The app then deposits kicks, which can be collected and redeemed for gift cards, song downloads, movie tickets, Facebook credits, donations to charities and more.

"JCPenney's nationwide rollout of shopkick makes shopping more inspiring and rewarding," said CEO and Co-Founder of shopkick Cyriac Roeding. "For shoppers, we delight them by rewarding them for behaviors they are already doing while shopping. For retailers, like JCPenney, we are driving incremental traffic and sales and ensuring that marketing dollars are invested in driving actual foot traffic - it's a win-win."

Along with earning kicks and having access to special offers, shoppers can utilize the app's features to:

- Browse JCPenney themed look books that showcase the hottest trends in apparel or home and link directly to those items for purchase at jcp.com;

- "Like" favorite items and be automatically reminded of them upon walking into a JCPenney store;

- Save and organize items into customizable books, complete with a personalized cover photo and

- Connect with others with similar interests to discover and share products from their books.

Shoppers can also collect additional kicks by logging into the app daily, viewing look books, inviting friends to join and by linking their Visa or MasterCard to shopkick's "Buy and Collect" program.

J. C. Penney