If you go to the App Store today, you’ll find an odd entrant second in the list of today’s most popular apps. 1000 people an hour are downloading an app for Gelato Messina that lets you pay for ice cream on your phone, awards you loyalty points, and lets you skip busy cash lines.
Messina used to be a cash-only business, but the company has skipped credit cards and payment terminals entirely to launch its own app on Android and iOS, built by loyalty app developer LOKE. Messina’s app has a variety of different payment methods including Paypal, and lets customers accrue loyalty points without having to scan a QR code or tap on to a piece of hardware in the store.
But the real reason that the app is so popular? For a limited time, if you download it and sign up, you’ll get $10 credited to your account to spend on gelato within the next month. That’ll get you a three scoop cup or cone or most of a takeaway half litre tub. That’s not bad for tapping a few things and typing a few words.
Gelato Messina is huge if you live in Sydney, the best city in the world, but the second best city in Victoria — Melbourne — also has three Messina stores as well. That’s only two more than the single stores on the Gold Coast and in Las Vegas, but still, it’s better than nothing. [Messina]