Loyalty & Rewards

Loyalty & Rewards
Online Marketplace Fashionism’s Rewards Innovation? Cash Rewards
September 30, 2014

Fashionism.com’s new way to keep customers loyal is as old school as it gets–giving customers cash back to keep them coming back. Via a percentage of the purchase, Fashonism rewards customers by returning a percentage of the purchase. According to founder and former Ralph Lauren...

Loyalty & Rewards
CreditCard.com’s New App To Help Users Keep Their Rewards Programs Straight
September 30, 2014

Americans holding more than one “rewards” card that offer discounts and cash back for different types of purchases can easily get lost between platforms.  Maybe they can remember they have a card they should always buy gas on, while another one should be used at...

Amex’s Parting Gift to Canadian Costco Customers
September 29, 2014

After Costco Canada’s decision to jump ship from American Express to the Capital One Platinum MasterCard, and all other MasterCard products which will now all also be available as a payment option at Costco Canada, the only thing left for Amex to do is pay...

International
StartUp Finds Gold In Online Transaction Data
September 29, 2014

There is no question that people are buying things online in ever increasing numbers or that they are creating reams of data while they are doing it. What to do with the data–how to use it, how to turn it into something useful, that’s a...

ShopKick’s $200M Payday
September 29, 2014

U.S.-based Shopkick is heading toward full acquisition by South Korean wireless company SK Telecom. SK has agreed to pay about $200 million for the  shopping loyalty app, reports The Wall Street Journal.  The South Korean telecom gains a new foothold in the U.S. market with the acquisition...

Loyalty & Rewards
FiveStars Raises $26 Million
September 26, 2014

FiveStars, a 3-year-old loyalty reward firm focused on small businesses, has raised $26 million. “Menlo Ventures led the Series B investment, joined by the company’s earlier backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, DCM and Rogers Communications,” the Wall Street Journal reported. FiveStars has about 150 full-time and...

Hmmm
Visa’s Next Big Business: Tokens and Data
September 25, 2014

Apple Pay may be the catalyst that mobile payments needed to get the payments ecosystem cranking, but that’s not all it did. It’s launched a whole new focus for the largest payments network in the world – tokens and data. Visa’s mobile chief, Bill Gajda,...

David S. Evans
Apple Pay, Now That We’ve Sobered Up
September 25, 2014

Just about everyone seemed absolutely giddy over Tim Cook’s breathless announcement of how Apple is revolutionizing payments. I’m hoping now that maybe, with a couple of weeks’ of distance and with at least some of you experiencing the buggy iOS8 operating system, I can make...

Clinkle Almost Launches, To More Giggles Than Applause
September 24, 2014

Mobile wallets are not easy, a statement proved true better by no business than Clinkle.  After 17 month of jokes, 30 million in funding raised, a great staff exodus and then more mean-spirited humor, it almost seemed as though the impossible had happened: Clinkle launched...