Junk Skull sounds like something the ocean rejected, but it's actually a new online retailer selling well-designed gadgets and other hip, pretty things, based out of the tiny British isle of Jersey. Thanks to the magic of Twitter, we found out that Junk Skull was adding Tags to customer receipts, and founder Danny Policarpo was kind enough to answer some of my probing questions by email.
Policarpo just launched Junk Skull about three months ago, after working in the e-commerce industry for four years. "I have always been fairly tech-savvy," he writes, "but I don't have any [software developer] skills or code-building experience. Something like Microsoft Tag that can easily be created by the user and [that gives businesses] the ability to track it using reports and analytics is a massive bonus."
So why Tag over other barcode solutions? "They are easy to create, use, customize, and track the end user usage all from one location," he says. "The other main reason is that they are unique and stand out! Which is what Junk Skull's main ethos is all about: the coupling of functionality and aesthetics in the products that we pick." It's true – a vintage-inspired mock cassette tape is actually a tape dispenser; a pair of pencils have drumsticks on the end.
Shoppers who scan the Tag on their invoice are connected with a discount code for future orders. "Originally we didn't have anything in place that would be greatly benefitted by the Tag," writes Policarpo, "then we discovered The Fancy and got in talks with them to do a joint collaboration. [The Tag] involves users adding their favorite products to their profiles, and once they reach 10 products from our store, a discount code is unlocked." He plans to use Tag's free analytics to see how well it does, and tweak if necessary.
Would you add Tags to customer invoices? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter.