Most of us have used location based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla to check-in and earn rewards or discounts from some of our favorite retailers.  However, a new mobile shopping app for iPhone allows you to not only check-in but earn points by scanning the barcode on products in the store.  It’s called CheckPoints - ‘The App that pays you back’ is their motto, where you check-in everywhere you shop, earn points for scanning products and redeem points for prizes.

This is how it works: Once you arrive in a store and select the location to check-in, CheckPoints will then list all the products that you can scan and earn points. Don’t forget you even receive points for checking in.  Once you select the items you want to scan, point your phone’s camera at the barcode and voila you easily earn points. Once you have gathered enough points, CheckPoints has a selection of prizes from gift cards to air miles and hotel stays. CheckPoints posted a video about the application.

It’s the brand not the location that matters

No matter where you are, if the product is available in store then you can scan it. For instance, if you are in your local grocery or drug store, you can easily scan various products listed by CheckPoints that will earn you points.  However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the customer is purchasing the product after they scan it. They can scan and move on to the next product.

For users, earning as many points as possible is their main focus.  For brands, it’s another way to interact with the consumer and reward them for their interaction with the product. The App is still pending approval from Apple, so we have yet to see its popularity. 

This is an example of how businesses can combat check-in fatigue by keeping customers engaged by offering rewards.