The program is the work of Matt Jestice, Matt Coons and Matt Spicer, three Hamilton men who co-founded Hamilton-based IT firm Bluefield Integrated Consulting.
“We want to give local business a leg up against the monster ad dollars of the national chains” said Jestice. “We see this as a great way to use our skills and resources to give something back to our community.”
The iShopBuCo app allows users to "check-in" to participating local businesses to earn points. Once enough points have been accumulated, users can trade them in for rewards. The iShopBuCo.com website also provides place for residents and visitors to the county to find special offers, job postings and links to local business Facebook pages or websites.
The check-in signs for the app are in more than 60 locations in Hamilton, Middletown, Fairfield, West Chester Twp., Liberty Twp., Monroe and Trenton, but more locations are being added on a regular basis, Jestice said.
The program differs from the standard punch card or loyalty system in that it can be used all over Butler County at a variety of businesses. However, users won’t find any chain stores on the iShopBuCo platform, only Butler County-based businesses.
The app also functions as a mobile directory as well, allowing users to see all of the nearby iShopBuCo partners based on their GPS location and even use their phone’s turn-by-turn navigation to get there, he said.
Sara Benagh, of Hamilton, who works in the city’s downtown, said she’s enjoyed using the app because it’s free, easy and “I think everyone likes to get points for free stuff.”
“I work in downtown Hamilton, so everything I need is right there and pretty much just about everywhere I usually visit in the morning on my way into work or during my lunch hour, I can go and scan in,” she said. “It’s easy for me to rack up those points.”
Users are also given an option to donate their points back for a cause.
“We hope to start a variety of drives for local nonprofits or events here in the county” says Jestice. “Periodically we’ll set a goal for donated points and make a donation based on input from our users.”
Work on iShopBuCo got its start in late 2014.
“While our primary business focuses on SMB IT solutions, often times our conversations with business owners would turn to us talking about the challenges and costs associated with traditional marketing,” Jestice said. “This led to our first ‘a-ha!’ moment. Since building and hosting websites is part of what we do, why not just build a website that was a repository of sorts and try to drive web traffic to that site?”
That, Jestice said, was a great place to start, but the next challenge was making sure they could offer something beyond just business listings “to really make it exciting.”
They built a special offers page and a job-posting page, two additional features to allow iShopBuCo’s business partners to grow their business and add value to page visitors.
“We felt like we needed something more to really push interaction with our local business partners and their current and potential customers,” Jestice said. “That’s where the app comes in. The iShopBuCo app allows patrons to collect points that can later be redeemed for rewards. Who doesn’t like free stuff?”
For more about iShopBuCo, visit www.ishopbuco.com and www.facebook.com/ishopbuco. The app is available for free download on Google Play and the Apple Store app.
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