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Google and Mastercard reportedly teamed up to track offline sales (update)
Last year, Google launched a tool called "store sales measurement" that can tell whether an online ad is effective based on real-world purchases in the US. The tech giant didn't expound on how it built the tool and how it works -- now, a Bloomberg report says Google was able to create it thanks to a secret deal with Mastercard. Mountain View paid millions for a stockpile of Mastercard transactions after four years of negotiations, according to the publication's sources who were directly involved with the deal. Neither the tech giant nor the credit provider told the billions of Mastercard holders that their purchases were used to develop the ad-tracking tool.
Macy's will give you location-based discounts through your iPhone
Macy's experiments with location-sensitive shopping have apparently paid off -- in the wake of a successful trial, the retail behemoth has unveiled plans to put iBeacons in all of its stores. Once they're activated this fall, you can get discounts and other promos on your iPhone as you wander through the store; you only need to install the Macy's app and keep Bluetooth turned on. There will only be regular deals at first, but an upgrade in the spring will offer department-specific discounts. You may get a special deal on a coat right as you're swinging by the men's or women's clothing sections, for instance. You're probably not going to go out of your way to shop at Macy's just to see bargains appear on your mobile screen, but this could be a useful perk if you're already a frequent customer.
Macy's tests location-specific store discounts using Apple's iBeacon (video)
The Bluetooth-based iBeacon feature in iOS 7 is theoretically ideal for retailers -- they can offer location-sensitive deals without having to track shoppers using GPS. We're about to find out how well it works in practice, as Macy's has just started testing Shopkick's iBeacon-derived ShopBeacon service in a closed beta. Stores in New York's Herald Square and San Francisco's Union Square now carry transmitters that send discounts and recommendations to participating iPhone users when they pass nearby. Whether or not Macy's offers the feature to the public will depend on the success of the trial, but it may not be long before your favorite store is more than eager to greet you.
Daily Update for November 20, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Shopkick rolls out iBeacon feature shopBeacon at Macy's flagship stores
I can't speak for the rest of you, but ever since Apple showed off iBeacon technology, I've been waiting for the day that I can walk into a retailer and have my iPhone recognize it. Thanks to Shopkick's new shopBeacon transmitters at flagship Macy's stores on the US coasts, customers will get a chance to experience it for the first time. Shopkick announced today that the new iBeacon feature is live and ready to ping your iPhone with notifications about store deals, customer recommendations and, of course, Shopkick-specific rewards as soon as you set foot in the retailer. As shoppers move between departments, the app will provide additional information about specific products and produce reminders about items the user has "Liked" in the past. OK, so it's basically a really smart version of a department store circular (with a dash of Minority Report), but at least someone is finally getting some use out of iBeacons. But not me, because I'm based out of the Midwest, where apparently we're not ready yet for the latest tech.
Mobile apps keep shoppers coming back to stores
Traditional "brick and mortar" storefronts are facing a difficult competitor these days; the consumer armed with a smartphone or tablet who buys products online rather than making the difficult trek from couch to physical store. AllThingsD blogger Lauren Goode wrote today about a way that store owners are fighting back using apps that offer "rewards, coupons and other incentives that can only be earned when you're physically in a store." Goode talks about this new trend to reward shoppers for coming into stores by describing two apps. First, there's Shopkick (free), which provides points (called "kicks") towards store gift cards that are earned by walking into a store or scanning a specific item in the store. You can earn points at any Shopkick partner store, including Target, GameStop, Starbucks, Macy's and Sephora. Goode notes that she'll now spend free time walking into stores just to get the "kicks" provided by the app, but that the app is "dangerous" since she ends up purchasing items in those stores -- exactly the thing participating retailers want to hear. Another similar app that is new to the App Store is Kapture, which gives users rewards by capturing a photo in a physical store. Once you've done so, you need to share the photo on your social networks. Goode says she's not thrilled about bothering her friends with photos of products, so she's probably not going to use Kapture that often. At this time, Kapture's only available in New York, severely limiting its usefulness. Would you let an app know when you're in a store, scan items to gain rewards or spam your friends with product photos to earn coupons? Let us know in the comments.
Best Buy trials support for Shopkick iPhone app in 187 stores
As of today, Best Buy has started testing out support for Shopkick at 187 of its retail locations in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York with another 70 in Dallas, Minneapolis, and Miami coming online by October 1. Basically, it's a location-based shopping app that hooks its users up with personalized deals and rewards based on store check-ins -- nothing novel -- but what makes Shopkick unique is how they determine your location: instead of using GPS, the app listens for a "Shopkick signal" emitted from speakers inside the store that's apparently inaudible to human ears. Presumably, they've set it up that way to make it harder to "check in" from outside the store without having to waltz in and pretend like you're interested in buying something -- but naturally, we like to believe that the signal is actually subliminally convincing you to buy countless Dyson Balls, Air Multipliers, and Black Crowes box sets. Follow the break for the press release. [Thanks, Bob]
Shopkick, Best Buy team up to use location-based app for loyalty program
I've been a member of Best Buy's rewards program for a little while now -- as long as I'm spending way too much of my hard-earned money at the big box retailer, I figure I might as well try to get some of it back. And I was pretty impressed with what they've done on their website with the program -- you can track your status and check out whatever deals are available to you whenever you sign in. And now, Best Buy has partnered up with an iPhone app called Shopkick, set to go live later this week. Shopkick is an app designed to automatically "check-in" with partnered retailers, so you can earn rewards bucks or other loyalty currencies whenever you stop by a specific retail location. Instead of using GPS, the app uses the smartphone's speaker to pick up a certain audio signal being played in-store, so "checking-in" at a Best Buy with the signal running will apparently grant rewards or discounts to customers. I don't know if the process actually appeals to me, even as a loyal Best Buy customer -- I haven't been interested in the whole "check-in" fad, and Shopkick sounds more like adware than anything else. But we've heard already that Apple themselves are interested in location-based networking, and this seems like exactly the kind of system that retailers and app creators alike are trying to build, enticing customers to visit and interact with brands and products in their stores. Shopkick goes live later this week and has already partnered with 25 malls in cities across the US, so we'll see how customers react to it.
Kleiner Perkins iFund doubles to $200m, investing in iPad apps from Shazam, ngmoco and more
Apple said it expects the iPad to be a "second gold rush" of app development as consumers rush to add content to their new devices, and it looks like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers agrees: the venture capital firm just announced that it's expanding the iFund to $200 million to invest in iPad app development. If you'll recall, the iFund was originally announced alongside the iPhone OS 2.0 SDK, and provided $100 million in total investments to 14 iPhone app developers like Shazam, ngmoco, and Shopkick -- companies responsible for 18 apps that have hit the App Store Top 10. Keep in mind that this money was promised before the iPhone App Store was even launched -- so given how that bet paid off, it's not surprising that KPCB's decided to double down on the iPad, which looks like it'll have even higher app prices. Along with the announcement, some iFund devs announced the following iPad apps: Pinger: Doodle Buddy and Starsmash Booyah: MyTown, a popular location-based game Shazam: Shazam, optimized for the new screen size, ngmoco: Flick Fishing, a new MMO called CastleCraft, Charadium (described as "massively multiplayer Pictionary"), God Finger, We Rule, WarpGate, and one more we missed -- anyone catch it? GOGII: TextPlus Nothing too surprising here, but it looks like the heavy hitters are going to be on the iPad bandwagon from day one -- and pushing hard for this thing to be a success.
