“Nearby Specials” Secret – Foursquare: Pass It On!

If you are like me – you rolled your eyes when you saw your Thanksgiving Day newspaper.  It looked like the Sunday newspaper. Since Thanksgiving is unofficially Black Friday Eve, retailers intend to lure you in with great specials.

My Shopping Philosophy:  The true price of an item is the discounted price and coupons are free money.  If I had time to read through 3” of ads and FSI’s – I would be all over it.  So imagine my thrill when I used Foursquare at the local mall to “check-in” and found an orange “Special Nearby” tag in the upper right hand corner.

Foursquare Retailers = Smart Retailers
I am standing in the mall.  Where the retailer, in this case, is located.  Seems like a no brainer for a retailer to entice me to stop by while I am in their area.

How Foursquare Businesses Lure Me In
I checked in using Foursquare (how to join and use Foursquare).  The “Special Nearby” orange tag appears and I click on it.  The next screen shows me that the Gap has a Special (JC Penney did, too).  I click on the Special – and Gap makes it worth my while to stop in to their location and make a purchase:

The key element:  Make it worth the consumer’s time to stop in.  A friend recently checked in on Foursquare at the movies last weekend and a local Verizon Wireless store had a great gift to anyone that stopped in.  While she is not in the market for a new phone right now, she promoted the great gift on Twitter and Facebook.  She broadcast the Verizon Wireless store’s brand and location to her extensive network.

UPDATE:  This is the first time I have noticed an ad on my blog!  I was alarmed – because the ad made this blog post appear to be pandering to an advertiser.  I looked into removing it – and read a post that reminded me I that WordPress.com is a free service.  Someone has to pay the bills.  So I chose to leave the ad alone.  Only my friends at WordPress.com benefit from the advertising placement.

ANOTHER UPDATE:  WBZ-TV in Boston did a story about (smart) restaurants using Foursquare:  http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/01/17/local-restaurants-offer-discounts-through-foursquare/