Introduction
Shopkick is an app known for giving free gift cards for walking into stores and scanning barcodes. However, they have added cash back features. Enter the promo code SALE870163 to receive a 250 kicks after walking in or scanning an item at a participating store.
What Is Shopkick & How Does It Work?
Shopkick is a FREE app in which you can earn what’s called “kicks” or points. These “kicks” can be cashed in for gift cards. You earn kicks by walking in stores and performing certain tasks such as scanning barcodes of products in stores. You don’t even have to purchase the products. However, if you purchase products, you can earn even more kicks.
Click here for detailed instructions on how to sign up for Shopkick
How Do I Earn?
Walking In Stores
With certain stores, you can earn “kicks” for just walking in. At the entrance of the store, open the app and BOOM, the kicks are added to your account. It’s pretty sweet.
The app uses your phone’s GPS to determine your location. When the app detects that you are near the store entrance or store’s department, you’ll earn the kicks. It even notifies you when you are close to a store that offers kicks for walking in. Kicks can range from 10 – 100 kicks per store walk in. Also, you can walk in and earn kicks on more than one day.
Rewarding kicks for walk ins drives customers to stores, increasing foot traffic. If you purchase something from the store, it’s a plus for you and the store.
Scanning Barcodes
Believe it or not, Shopkick will reward you with kicks for scanning items. You don’t even have to purchase those items. Kicks for scans can range from 10-30 kicks per product.
Shopkick rewards kicks for scans to drives customers to aisles or shelves in the store as well as give consumers sales prices.
Purchasing Items
With Shopkick you can earn kicks for purchasing products from retailers within the app. You can also earn kicks when you link your credit or debit card. Some stores will reward you kicks for certain products and some stores reward kicks for each $1 spent.
Submitting Receipts
When you scan your receipt at certain stores, you can earn kicks on select items. The number of kicks you can earn varies by the product and the store. For example, if you purchase Ragu Pasta at Walmart, you would earn 150 kicks.
Referring Friends
When you invite your friends to join Shopkick and do their first walk in or scan, you both earn 250 kicks. However, they must walk in or scan a product at a store within 7 days of joining or no kicks are rewarded.
How Does Shopkick Pay?
Once you have enough kicks, you can redeem those kicks for gift cards. You can receive gift cards with as little as 500 kicks. You pick which reward you would like and Shopkick will show your progress towards that reward. 250 kicks are work $1. So that means 1,000 kicks are worth $4. You can redeem kicks for small rewards or save them for bigger rewards.
For example, currently, you can get a $2 gift card to Walmart for 500 kicks. You can save 75,000 kicks for a $300 Tiffany & Co gift card. Or save 1.9M kicks for a Vespa.
How Does Shopkick Make Money?
If you purchase an item from a store and you use the app to get a discount, Shopkick will get a small commission. Companies also pay Shopkick for market research. In addition, companies pay Shopkick a small fee to increase sales and product awareness.
When you scan an item or walk in to earn kicks, store get increased foot traffic. You may not have walked in that store if you weren’t rewarded. Also by scanning items, you have to walk around the store, enticing you to make a purchase.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- It’s FREE to register
- You can earn rewards for gift cards without having to spend any money
- It’s fun
- Earning “kicks” is easy
- Kicks can be earned at stores you already shop
- The app is easy to use
Cons
- It takes a long time to accumulate points
- You need a lot of points to redeem gift cards
- You can’t earn money, just gift cards
- The app will need access to your location, SMS, phone, media, camera, microphone and bluetooth
How Can I Get Started With Shopkick?
Getting started with Shopkick is pretty easy. You can register for Shopkick for FREE by clicking this link here. Enter the promo code SALE870163 to receive a 250 kicks after walking in or scanning an item at a participating store. You can register with your email or Facebook.
Click here for detailed instructions on how to register with Shopkick
Final Thoughts…
Overall, Shopkick is a pretty cools app. It’s a fun way to shop. Also, it’s a great way to earn gift cards without having to spend any money. However, it can take quite some time earn enough rewards to get a gift card.
Similar Apps
There are plenty of other apps that offer cash back. Below is a list of a few.
Dosh
- Registration Bonus: $5 bonus when you use this link and link your credit or debit card
- Join Dosh
Dosh is a cash back app that pays you cash back when you use a linked debit or credit card. There’s no scanning, no surveys, etc. Login to the app to see what stores or restaurants offer cash back. That’s it!
Ibotta
- Registration Bonus: $10 with promo code cvhjpqm and your first receipt scan
- Join Ibotta
Ibotta is a receipt scanning app that pays you cash back on certain products. Take a picture of your receipt and earn cash back on common grocery purchases. They also offer cash back on electronics, restaurants, alcohol, prescription drugs and much more.
Drop
- Registration Bonus: Get 1000 Drop Points with code ivflr
- Join Drop
Drop is very similar to Dosh. Link your credit or debit card to the app and earn points for gift cards each time you make a purchase with that card.