Shopkick & Visa to Offer Retail Store Purchase Rewards

Incentives are increasing in popularity and this is evident everywhere from retail stores to the workplace. A new incentive in the retail sphere is not only rewarding customers for visiting a particular store, it's also urging them to spend money while inside.

Shopick, a mobile app that gives you rewards and offers for simply walking into stores, has partnered with Visa to add an incentive to buy things once you're there. With Shopkick, consumers collect kicks™ rewards by stepping into millions of stores in America. They can then redeem their kicks™ for cool stuff, like gift cards, Facebook Credits, movie tickets and more.

Now, the new partnership with Visa is giving consumers an added bonus for buying merchandise at participating stores. Consumers will be rewarded with even more kicks points after a purchase is made.

To participate in the program, consumers need to download Shopkick’s app (on iPhone or Android) and then link it to their Visa account. After you buy something with your Visa card, the amount of points will automatically be displayed on your phone.

The more kicks you earn, the better the rewards. With 825 kicks, you can get a $25 meal at a restaurant. Kicks aren't hard to earn - Toys “R” Us is offering 520 kicks with an $85 purchase. You can also get 200 kicks from various vendors just by walking in their doors.

The video below outlines the new partnership. Would you use this? Let us know in the comments.

Raising the Bar Again

Here at Hinda, we believe in pushing our limits and exceeding our own expectations. In 2004, we developed the Undisputed Leader Initiative (ULI), an internal program that aims to improve quality of service, develop innovative ideas and engage our suppliers, clients and program participants. In an attempt to maximize efficiency, maintain competitiveness in the industry and achieve operational excellence, we continually re-examine and revamp our business operations.

The ULI program was established as a way to put goals around our core functions (order rate, shipping errors, etc.) in an effort to improve customer satisfaction and maintain quality improvement. Before the program, there wasn’t a formal procedure in place for measuring our business operations.

“By publicizing our goals and getting people to work together, we get a bigger impact,” says Dave Pellissier, Director of Information Technology. “It creates peer pressure and self pressure to attain the goals.”

Now, on a year-to-year basis, the ULI team examines the goals achieved in order to find out ways to improve upon them. Just recently, changes were put in place to make the ULI team a more formalized quality improvement team. They plan to raise the bar even further and breathe new life into the program.

Starting in the warehouse, the ULI team hopes to work with the warehouse staff to optimize the way we’re shipping and improve efficiency. Currently, they’re looking at alternate shipping solutions and automation.

Along with revamping the internal metrics we assess our business with, we’re also looking to upgrade our exterior certifications. We’ve been PCI compliant for three years now. The PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) provides a framework for developing a credit card data security process, including fraud prevention, intrusion detection and appropriate reaction to security incidents. We’re looking to become ISO 27001/2 compliant within the next year. This will establish a more comprehensive information security program at Hinda. ISO 27001/2 is an industry standard security framework which will help with RFPs, security audits and other dealings with large companies.

Merchandise Monday: Think Pink

No longer a color fit for females only, pink has become the color of hope. Standing strong as a proud indicator of breast cancer awareness, the power of pink has hit everything from ribbons to handbags - all with a mission to help support breast cancer research. Even the NFL adopted the color during breast cancer awareness month in October, when players took to the field wearing pink armbands and pink shoes.

Sporting the feminine color for a worthy cause, several manufacturers recently began offering pink products to support breast cancer research. Here are a few of our favorite pink products available today.

Cuisinart® Smart Stick® Hand Blender

The versatile stick design lets users blend ingredients right in pots, pitchers, bowls or the clear plastic beaker that's included. The powerful 200-watt motor operates with an easy one-touch control, while the dishwasher-safe blending shaft and beaker make cleanup easy.

Cuisinart® Mini-Prep® Plus Three-Cup Food Processor

The perfect little helper for small food preparation, from chopping herbs or bread crumbs to finely grinding hard cheese. The special Auto Reversing Smart Blade™ makes it easier to process both soft and hard foods.

Kitchenaid® Cook for the Cure® Five-Speed Blender

The Artisan® Series blender features five speeds plus Pulse Mode and a Crush Ice feature to handle all of your blending tasks. A 0.9 horsepower motor and Intelli-Speed® Motor Control ensure a superb, consistent performance.

Cuisinart® Electric Cookie Press

This easy-to-use press turns out professional-looking cookies in minutes. There are 12 cookie discs to choose from, including special seasonal patterns. Eight designer pastry tips are also included for decorating cookies and desserts or filling pasta shells, deviled eggs or pastries.

Conair® The Power of Pink Ionic Hair Styler

Ionic technology helps promote shiny, healthy hair. The Power of Pink hair styler offers three heat/speed settings for precision styling and a removable filter for easy cleaning.

Eco Silicone Collapsible Lunch Box

This very clever lunch box is made from BPA-free, food grade silicone and biodegradable Eco Plastic. Compress it to 1/3 of its size so that it is easy to carry and store when you are done. As an added bonus, this set comes complete with its own innovative two-sided spork that snaps into the lid.

Eco Steel Cup

The eco cup can be reused for years and holds 16 ounces of your favorite hot liquid. Enjoy at home, work or on the go. It features double wall insulated stainless steel and a reusable silicone lid and sleeve.

Conair® Travel Smart® The Power of Pink Luggage Lock

With lightweight and sturdy housing, this heart-shaped lock is both resettable and TSA-recognized.

A portion of the proceeds from each of these products will be donated to breast cancer research. What are your favorite pink products? Do you know of merchandise that supports another cause? Let us know. We'd love to hear from you.

Strides: An Employee Engagement Tool for Project Management

Creativity, imagination, ambition and teamwork. These basic human qualities used to make amazing things. Then, during the Industrial Revolution, machines started revolutionizing the way people worked. When the PC was born, office productivity soared. But then, the very technology that was supposed to help us started coming between us. We e-mailed more and connected less. We held more meetings, but accomplished less. To combat this issue, Strides was created to bring people together and transform managers and supervisors into coaches.

Strides is a lightweight social application that allows managers and employees to coordinate work efforts together in real time. It’s a simple tool that blends the principles of enterprise social networking with efficient task management. They use technology to refocus work on people - not on projects or processes. By focusing on the mission at hand, employees and teams work toward a goal and break down communication barriers.

Plus, the application has a built-in gamification feature. Employees are given a sense of accomplishment when they work together to achieve goals, accomplish tasks and create objectives.

Acting as a home base for employees, Strides provides context to create meaning and produce value within an organization.

Experience this new way to work for yourself. While not available to the public yet, you can join a limited private beta by visiting their site and signing up. Check out the video below for a brief introduction to the social application.

Strides - A New Way to Play the Game of Work from Get Strides on Vimeo.

Do you think social applications are an effective way of motivating and engaging employees? Why or why not? With regards to Strides, do you think they have a place in the market today? Leave a comment and let's get the discussion started.

Merchandise Monday: Gadget Gifts

Traditionally, Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Consumers storm the stores in search of the best deals and the hottest products. This year was no exception. Big ticket items (like televisions, cameras, laptops and game systems) were offered at unbelievable prices. If you were able to cross some of these items off your holiday shopping list, may we suggest a few off-the-beaten-path gift options for those left on your gift list? These gifts are quirky in nature, yet they're sure to bring joy to any recipient.

CandyMan™ Motion-Activated Candy Dispenser

Perfect for dispensing unwrapped candy, unsalted nuts and gum balls, the CandyMan™ motion-activated candy dispenser is fun for families and perfect for the office. The easy-fill top makes it simple to load in candy. Just wave your hand under the dispenser and the perfect amount of your favorite treat pours out.

Boogie Board™ Paperless LCD Writing Tablet

The Boogie Board™ turns sticky notes and memo pads “green” with envy. Write on the pressure-sensitive LCD screen with the included stylus, or even your fingernail, without wasting paper or ink. The tablet displays your notes until you erase them with the touch of a button. 

Cocktail Master

Cocktail Master automatically mixes and dispenses your favorite cocktail creations at the push of a button! It holds 600mL of delicious mixed drinks and includes a side measuring guide for following drink recipes with ease.

Wireless Key Finder

This wireless key finder locates your lost keys with the press of a button. Simply press one of the color-coded pager buttons on the compact wireless transmitter, and the matching key fob will answer with a loud, clear alarm from anywhere in your home.

Old Fashioned S'mores Maker™

Bring the enjoyment of roasting marshmallows over a campfire flame into the comfort of your kitchen! The Old Fashioned S'mores Maker™ has a charming appeal and roasts nine to 12 marshmallows at a time.

Tocky Alarm Clock

Tocky will jump from your night stand and roll away to get you out of bed. With Tocky, there's never a dull morning. He's outfitted with a microphone so that you can record your own sounds. Tocky can also upload MP3s. Listen to your favorite tracks as they roll around your room! He's a breeze to use with his touch sensitive interface. Just spin your finger around the dial to change the time or the track.

Do you have any more gadget gifts to add to the list? Did you participate in Black Friday shopping this year? If so, what were you after? Did you get what you wanted? Leave a comment and let us know - we sure appreciate it.