Next Jump Touts Deals Database; Teams With Chicago Mag on VIP Shopping Night

Chicago Magazine will partner with Next Jump April 28 for “Intersections of Style,” a “VIP Shopping Night” that will bring thousands of Chicagoans to select stores offering exclusive discounts and perks (i.e., “champagne check-in”). The event is being promoted by Chicago Shopping, a new shopping portal by the Chicago Tribune, which partners with Next Jump to provide curated offers to consumers based on their personal interests.

Speaking today at Where 2.0 in Santa Clara, Next Jump CEO Charles Kim said the Intersections of Style event was modeled on a September event held in New York that featured 43 stores in SoHo and the Meatpacking District. The a-ha moment for that event was the use of a simple check-in app for invited guests. It would have otherwise been impossible to check in the 108,000 members of the site who had RSVP’d. Members who check in for the Chicago event will receive 1,000 WOW reward points.

Kim says the service, which began in 1994, uses its database and tracking tech to not only provide leads to stores, but also to “understand what consumers are doing and the time and location of their activity.” It discerned, for instance, that 80 percent of its New York VIP Night attendees were “new” to the service, and that 30 percent actually came from outside the city. It also knew that visitors typically visit three to six core “origination” stores, and then branch out to others based on their personal interests.

Next Jump manages 90,000 enterprise databases and has 30,000 merchant partners. Its white-label partners not only include the Chicago Tribune (and sister Tribune paper, the LA Times), but also such players as MasterCard, Barnes & Noble and AARP Discount Club.