Loyalty and rewards

Brands now have a wealth of eco-friendly card material options available to them and the right choice will serve as a convenient reminder to consumers that green values run through every area of their business, writes Andrew Toon, head of retail at Thames Technology.

As gas stations add EMV-chip card acceptance at the pump, they will also find themselves rebuilding systems for loyalty programs and special offers that were reliant on their older hardware.

Loyalty programs should enhance your brand through all your customer-facing marketing. Macy’s Star Rewards is all over their social media, stores and supporting materials. Plenti doesn’t say anything about the Macy’s brand. It only enhances the Plenti brand, writes Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce.

Total System Services is implementing software at Walmart and Sam's Club locations nationwide to link loyalty rewards to health care payments, while also recognizing qualified purchases from a consumer's health plan.

Even if most consumers aren't leaving their plastic cards at home in favor of mobile wallets, the very idea of using a mobile wallet is no longer cutting-edge. But a few companies go the extra mile.

A former executive at SunTrust has joined Cardlytics Inc. to help the company expand its partnerships with other banks.

“Liquid” is the best descriptor for this shift because it illustrates the continuum of pay-with-points options, writes Barry Kirk, vice president of customer loyalty for Maritz Motivation Solutions.

Ingenico views the integration as a way to increase the use of loyalty programs during the payment process.

Nearly a year after integrating with major mobile wallets, Punchh is expanding its cloud-based platform to integrate loyalty and payments for quick-service restaurants.

The announcement comes only a month after five other retailers dropped from Plenti. AT&T had dropped out of the program three months earlier as the first retailer to leave.

That’s because transaction-based loyalty programs that focus on discounting simply train customers to wait for coupons and incentives, writes Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce.

Wirecard is working with Fortress GB on new payments technology that will enable fans of two U.K.-based football clubs to earn points and cash-back rewards when making purchases inside stadiums at sporting events — and will track their spending data to decide on future offers.

Starbucks has for some time been the poster child of mobile payments acceptance in the U.S., but even this success may be tapering off.

Wirecard has introduced a feature that uses payments data to shape marketing offers and loyalty programs in the travel industry.

After a year of teething trouble at the Amazon Go cashierless concept store in Seattle, the e-tailer has finally opened its doors to the public. But no amount of Jetsons-esque technology can prepare the company for a stampede of consumers accustomed to Flintstones-era retail.

The dark cloud that was the lost Costco card portfolio didn't garner a mention during the American Express 2017 fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday — the first time in many quarters that this was the case.

As mobile commerce matures, consumers are getting more accustomed to the process of populating a shopping cart from a smartphone's screen. It's a process that could translate well to brick-and-mortar stores.

Even as more retailers dropped out of the Plenti multi-merchant loyalty program this month, the faltering American Express program does not represent a death blow for such collaborations.

Debt transfers, dining rewards and easier security are all ways to enhance relationships with consumers are card options proliferate in a competitive environment, writes Thomas Donaldson, senior credit specialist at CompareCards.

Dynamics Inc. has been committed to bringing high-tech multi-account cards to market for years, but it's tough to sell banks on pricier plastic in the age of mobile wallets and e-commerce.