InComm will work with the Merchant Customer Exchange to support digital gift card and loyalty programs for retailers, while also expanding MCX's
Atlanta-based InComm connects various service providers at the point of sale, allowing consumers to activate prepaid cards, pay bills, obtain discounts through loyalty programs, purchase digital products in-store or add funds to an online account.
MCX, a mobile payments initiative from major retailers including Wal-Mart and Target, is currently testing its mobile wallet, with plans for a full rollout next year. InComm and MCX declined requests to be interviewed about their partnership.
MCX revealed the CurrentC brand shortly before Apple Inc. announced its
Apple Pay currently lacks a loyalty program, other than the cards consumers can store in its Passbook application.
As such, MCX may lean on InComm to provide a connection to loyalty programs at the more than 450,000 "points of retail distribution worldwide" that InComm touts in a Sept. 30 press release.
"InComm's integration with the merchant POS is to facilitate the sale of gift cards as part of the end-cap displays in national grocery chains," said payments analyst Kevin Grieve, a partner with Chicago-based Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company. Grieve noted that much of the relationship is still speculation because the CurrentC wallet has not yet launched.
MCX is likely considering using InComm as a "back door" into the merchant point of sale to enable MCX acceptance, Grieve said.
In July, InComm landed an agreement with Sweden-based Seamless Distribution AB to establish digital closed-loop reloadable cards on the
