Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pushkart: The Next Best Shopping App?

I have this shopping fantasy where I'm walking down 34th Street and boom! I get all these deals on my iPhone so I walk into stores and boom! magically I get stuff for practically nothing! Or hugely discounted or something. And then I met the guys from Pushkart.

Name inspired by the old pushcart vendors of the LES.

This app, designed by a Brooklyn company, is brand, spanking new and is launching "organically" (yes, now I have to rip my tongue out). This means that currently you're going to see deals on Pushkart for mostly small, local businesses. I'm working on introducing Pushkart to our restaurants and retailers in the 34th Street district so our shoppers can boom! get mobile deals everywhere they go on 34th Street.

Deals, you ask? Why yes! Check out this Pushkart deal from my iPhone:

"Give your bartender a high five for all their hard work, get rewarded with a $2 bartender's choice cocktail."

I must confess, back in my bartending days I would have looked very askance if anyone tried to high five me. But I was working during the economic boom. If I was bartending today, I'd high-five, kiss, and slap all my customers on the ass for spending money at my establishment.
Back to Pushkart: let's walk through it with everyone's favorite bullet points.
  • Download the Pushkart app on your iphone (blackberry app available soon);
  • Sign up your Twitter and/or Facebook accounts;
  • Go to the Vanderbilt, open your Pushkart app, find the deal, and high-five your bartender;
  • Scan Vanderbilt's QR code with your phone to redeem the deal and get a $2 drink;
  • This message, written by the business, goes out to your Twitter and/or Facebook: "I just got a hand-crafted $2 cocktail at the Vanderbilt! Best pushkart deal in Prospect Heights, bar none." 
  • Followers on your network can then use the deal, which gets pushed out to their networks, and so on, and so on, and so on...
QR who? Get used to them, the Japanese have been using QR codes for years so you know what that means. And to those who worry about their networks getting clogged with extraneous messages, let me emphasis this: shoppers and diners can benefit from your check-in and redeem your deals. This is a refreshing option to just looking at 3 million "I'm at ___ 34th Street" tweets. Also, you're not going to redeem every deal you find, thus Pushkart is a much more discretionary app.

Where's the 34th Street tie-in? I'm working on it! Today I saw on Pushkart's Twitter that Daffy's in now on Pushkart, so soon I will be trolling Herald Square and testing it at Daffy's in Herald Center. You all, in the meantime, can download the app on your smartphone and start checking out deals in your hood.



Daffy's Herald Square, Herald Center, 34th Street at Broadway
Pushkart Hopefully available soon all over 34th Street

1 comments :

Unknown said...

great post, we are growing pretty quickly, the Android app is now out and here is a segment on NBC News about Pushkart http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Your-Virtual-World-Can-Save-You-Real-Life-Bucks-106935643.html