Cynac Roeding and Kickbucks Program - Assignment Example

To increase traffic in mobile retail stores Cynac Roedingcreated a rewards program that rewarded people for visiting the store. The concept became known as kickbacks. The program rewarded registered iPhone and Android users who entered a participating retail location. Kickbacks could be turned into gift cards, discounts, download songs, movie tickets, Facebook credits, or charitable donations. The concept gained popularity and expanded into 1,100 retail stores across the U.S. (Ankeny, 2011).

Cynic Roeding wanted to turn a rewards program into a fun experience for everyone. Kickbucks incorporates a patent-pending device located at each store that emits a signal that can be picked up by cellular devices within range. Retailers control the value of kickbacks. The shopper demographic of kickbacks contains 55% females and 49% between the ages 25-39 which is a great shopper demographic. Kickbacks provided an incentive for customers to come into the store. Greater rewards obtain higher traffic results. The success of kickbacks was realized in part due to the desire of customers of integrating their mobile devices into their shopping experience.

Analysis
The article showed how innovation can be applied to the marketing function of an enterprise. Mr. Roeding was able to invent a system that utilized cellular phones as a hub to identify walk-by traffic into stores. People would get rewarded for just visiting the store. The idea of kickbacks was revolutionary because most rewards programs typically entail the purchase of goods from a store. Kickbacks started as a program to drive traffic into cellular stores, but other companies liked the idea so much that soon the system was implemented by Roeding at all types of retail establishments. It is a common fact that a lot of people buy on impulse. Kickbacks indirectly generate sales for stores because they brought people into your establishment.

The cellular industry is one of the fastest growing sectors as cellular has become people’s favorite electronic gadget. Smartphone sales in the U.S. and abroad are booming. In 2013 one billion smartphones were sold worldwide (Plunkett Research, 2014). Cynic Roeding found a way to take advantage of the capabilities of the smartphone to create a new way to monitor consumer behavior. Fresh ideas such as kickbacks are the type of creative thinking that students of business must learn to be successful in the corporate world. Kickbacks allowed stores the ability to obtain marketing information about customer traffic into stores. The store owners had control over how aggressively targeted customers by controlling the value of kickbacks. Cynac Roeding created something unique by taking advantage of existing technology. Read More