Shoe Carnival taps Shopkick for mobile loyalty program

Dive Brief:

Shoe Carnival has partnered with shopping rewards provider Shopkick for a mobile app-based loyalty program that will reward shoppers for checking out and buying merchandise in the retailer’s stores, along with other features, Shopkick announced.
The app will reward shoppers for foot traffic in stores, allowing them to earn "kicks" for checking out items and making purchases in any of the 419 Shoe Carnival stores across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico.
Other features include in-app content to drive cross-category product awareness and engagement, and personalized in-app lookbook content to help customers find the right fit. Shoe Carnival did not immediately respond to Retail Dive's request for more details.

Dive Insight:

Shopkick has been focused for a long time on enabling shoppers to earn rewards points by interfacing with the mobile app in-store, and more retailers are coming around to the advantages of such an app. As more shoppers than ever begin to use smartphones while in stores, Shopkick’s program features leverage a naturally-building cultural trend.

Just a few weeks ago, Shopkick also started allowing customers to earn points for completing purchases via mobile. It is unclear whether or not Shoe Carnival plans on leveraging that capability.

For the footwear retailer, this is just the latest move for a company that has been fairly aggressive in embracing mobile. For example, Shoe Carnival launched a mobile visual search capability in 2015 at a time when other retailers had barely begun to investigate that capability.

Despite Shoe Carnival's willingness to experiment with mobile, things in general have not been going well for brick-and-mortar shoe retailers. Shoe Carnival’s stock price hit a 52-week-low earlier this week, fellow discount shoe seller Payless entered bankruptcy protection earlier this year, and sector analysts view Nike’s decision to sell directly on Amazon as a growing threat for retailers such as Finish Line and Foot Locker. Nevertheless, in the current challenging environment, it may pay to make every effort to invest in omnichannel engagement solutions.