It was nearly one year ago at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show that I was first introduced to SWAGG. I attended a Qualcomm launch party with Kid Rock and now former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.
It was then when I was first introduced to the idea of using my phone for the convenience of storing and managing my gift cards and loyalty and reward cards, so I'd have them with me whenever I needed. Just earlier today we found a couple of gift cards that we've forgotten about and have been sitting in a drawer for nearly three years . . . so I'm a prime candidate for this type of organizational and financial management app!
Several gadgets (i.e. numi key) and mobile apps (i.e. Yowza) have entered the market allowing you to do aspects of this: finding deals at stores near you, or tracking your loyalty card numbers, etc. SWAGG, which officially launched last month on December 7th, does all of those things, but with a twist.
While you can consolidate your frequent rewards cards on the free mobile app, you can also buy, send or swap SWAGG Gifts, which are personalized digital gift cards. The gift can be for a specific merchant within their network, or you can allow the recipient to pick from the list of retailers that are supported by SWAGG.
The concept creates another way to look up deals on your phone, and has decent location-based functionality built into the app. SWAGG is in ramp-up mode with Live Nation, JC Penney and Steve Madden recently signing on in the past few weeks to participate, increasing the total number of merchants and the volume of deals available.
I received $20 in SWAGG bucks through the Mom Bloggers Club to try out the app. I found it quick and easy to send a gift (I'll have to watch my iPhone/iPad proficient pre-schooler to make sure that he doesn't start sending flowers to his girlfriend!).
I easily converted the SWAGG bucks into a gift card at 1-800-Flowers. Once I decide to buy something, I can either show the retailer the credit card image on my phone (see photo) or SWAGG will generate instructions on how to use the gift card online. I can even exchange the gift card for another merchant within the SWAGG network.
Overall, SWAGG is a promising app, and once more retailers come on board and more deals are to be had, it's something that I'll be able to use more frequently. SWAGG was released by Outlier mobile commerce, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, and can be downloaded for the iPhone or Android (not currently available for Windows Phones).
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