Foursquare Cashes In on Check-Ins

Technophiles who like checking in via Foursquare may soon be able to find deals through their favorite retailer.

Image: iStockphoto

Foursquare, the startup that presents users with everything from “merit badges” to mayoral status when they use the company’s mobile app to “check in to” restaurants, bars, or other locations, may have a better deal: saving some cash.

Today, the company announced its biggest partnership deal to date: an alliance with American Express that will provide cardholders who use Foursquare to check into particular retail shops or eateries with substantial deals. Counting 10 million registered users and growing, Foursquare seems to be particularly favored by technophiles in densely populated cities like New York, where some jockey with friends or strangers to become “mayor” of their favorite restaurant or pub through repeated visits.

But the move toward attracting shoppers could make Foursquare a favorite app for mainstream users, such as moms and dads looking for a deal on, say, yoga pants or shoes. The strategy also brings Foursquare into square-on competition with daily deal providers such as Groupon and LivingSocial, both of which are trying to boost their mobile apps, which provide instant deals in a few pilot cities, as well as rivals like Gowalla and Facebook Places.

For the launch, American Express will offer cash-back deals at Sports Authority and fashion apparel retailer H&M, among other retailers. For example, it will give someone who spends $75 at H&M a $10 credit toward their AmEx accounts and offer Sports Authority shoppers $20 back on their account with every $50 purchase. To get the deals, Foursquare users must link their American Express cards to their Foursquare profiles.

Although Foursquare will not be snagging revenues through its new agreement, it says the promotion will give the company’s approach some additional street credibility, and ideally draw more partnerships that do offer revenues.

The partnership had a test run at the South by Southwest music and technology conference in Austin, Texas, a tryout that the Amex deemed more successful than other efforts it has made to encourage shopping, such as direct mail or online ads.

The test version of the Foursquare tie-up brought a “higher response rate than anything else we’re doing,” Edward Gilligan, vice chairman of American Express told the New York Times.

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