Shopkick aims to propogate mobile coupons for shoppers

Simon Property Group is working together with a Silicon Valley startup known as Shopkick to empower shoppers with mobile coupons – an idea that isn’t new at all, but have hardly been successful to date. Well, they are giving yet another go this time around, starting with 25 malls in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago which will be empowered with the relevant equipment to enable support for Shopkick’s coupons. Participating stores will need to install speakers at the entrance to their shop, where these speakers will emit a high frequency noise which humans can’t hear, but the microphones in our handsets can. This means activating the Shopkick application (on the iPhone and Android platforms only) will enable one to receive points, gift certificates, news about sales and specials, as well as any other persuasive idea the store can think of to help you part with your dough. Will it take off? Perhaps, but young folks who are tech savvy might just be able to hear the high frequency noise and be turned off by the entire idea.