For readers who own retail stores,
or for readers that just shop at stores, these two new app’s for the iPhone (not so useful for the iPad) might be of
interest. I predict these will become a
wave in the future.
What do they do? They take all those customer loyalty cards
that every store seems to have now, and puts them into your iPhone. Then you don’t have to carry plastic junk
into the store; just call up the store on the iPhone app (Keychain) and show them your electronic card. There is a bar code that appears, and most
scanners will scan the bar code right off your iPhone screen as well.
The appeal doesn’t stop with
convenience, the Keychain
stores load in deals and even substantial discounts for you to view and use –
enticements to shop their stores. They
don’t give all these deals to people with plastic only. Why?
My guess is they are trying to attract the electronic first-movers
to this idea.
Today, a competitor to Keychain , (which I have
on my iTouch) Smart Source Xpress was announced. This app says it goes farther than the Keychain app. It says it will download “cardholder only”
special prices to the app, so when you shop there, you don’t have to take the
paper coupons we see everywhere in print ads these days. This could be a good deal, since sometimes
those 2 for 1, or deeply discounted items are invisible to in-store shoppers,
you have to bring in the coupon. Walmart
appears to be more honest than some.
Walmart gives everyone the deep discount sale price, even if the shelf
doesn’t mention the item is on sale.
Frequently I see prices ring at the Walmart register that are less that
what I thought it would be based on shelf sticker pricing. And Walmart doesn't bother you with loyalty cards.
If anyone has tried either of
these, and would like to share their feelings or experience, please use the
comment link below and sound off!
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