Checkpoints presentation. CheckPoints. CheckPoints is a mobile shopping platform founded by veteran entrepreneur brothers Mark and Todd DiPaola, which launched at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2010. CheckPoints can be downloaded here. CheckPoints users accrue points which are instantly redeemable for real-world prizes, by checking-in to over a million retail locations across the U.S. and scanning barcodes on advertised products. CheckPoints launched with several product partners, including Belkin®, Energizer®, Seventh Generation® and Tyson Foods®. For Shoppers CheckPoints helps shoppers discover and interact with featured products by leveraging GPS and UPC scanning technologies on smartphones.
Shoppers earn points just by checking in, as they arrive at a store or restaurant. In many locations, they can earn additional points by scanning barcodes on featured products and by playing bonus mini-games. For Marketers Existing location-based services (LBS) have focused primarily on connecting person with place. Recent Milestones Videos. CheckPoints Mobile Shopping Rewards App. CheckPoints: A Social Shopping App That Will Cost You Negative $0.99. There’s clearly something to this idea of mobile/social shopping. Or at least, a huge group of startups all seem to think there is. Already this year we have apps like Shopkick and Barcode Hero attempting to build upon what apps ShopSavvy and others have been working on for some time.
That is, enriching the shopping experience by using a device most of us now have on us at all times: our phones. Today at TechCrunch Disrupt, a new entry attempting to be the broadest of these yet, CheckPoints, is launching. Co-founder Mark DiPaola calls CheckPoints “the first mobile shopping rewards app that lets consumers own rewards regardless of what store they’re in.”
Here’s how the app works: you walk into a store and you’ll immediately see a number of featured products. Consumers do this scanning because it earns them “checkpoints” which are accumulated and can be redeemed once you have enough. Q: Can you get retail establishments and brands beyond what you have? A: Yes. A: I disagree. New App Rewards Shoppers for Scanning Barcodes. Checkins may be trendy, but mobile consumers want more mobile coupons, and plenty of startups are working on mobile coupon platforms for that purpose. Newcomer CheckPoints is taking a slightly different approach to the mobile shopping space with a service that combines checkins, barcode scanning and rewards for an all-in-one consumer and brand-friendly platform. CheckPoints, available today as a consumer-facing iPhone application, is designed to encourage shoppers to interact with brand-sponsored products at offline stores.
Initial product partners include big brand names such as Tyson Foods, Belkin, Energizer and Seventh Generation. As a CheckPoint user, you can fire up the iPhone app at retail locations and grocery stores to check in and view advertised products. Product partners work with CheckPoints to create a completely branded product scanning experience that both engages and rewards the consumer. Image courtesy of acordova, Flickr.