Loyalty and rewards

Versatile, high-tech digital gift card sales are going strong for this year’s holiday season, but in the latest sign that plastic cards many never die, eBay has partnered with gift card giant InComm to sell traditional gift cards online that will take up to 10 days to arrive by mail.

Krispy Kreme's new payment and loyalty app is betting big on customers' appetite for donating to charity.

Lovers of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee now have a mobile app to pay for their purchases and receive rewards.

Dunkin' Donuts, in a bid to catch up to the technology prowess of Starbucks Corp., is testing on-the-go ordering and delivery service in some U.S. markets.

Most mobile wallets clearly favor one industry over another, with banks and retailers often pitted against each other in a battle over payment card fees. JPMorgan Chase just made a stunning move by conceding some of this ground to the benefit of the Merchant Customer Exchange.

When Cumberland Farms said this month that it had processed $1 billion worth of gas via its decoupled debit card over the course of nearly three years, it was the latest example of the power of the decoupled debit card. And yet, other than Target's RED card, decoupled debit has barely moved beyond the convenience and petroleum segment.

The mobile technology craze is starting to sweep up loyalty programs, placing pressure on banks to brush up the reward redemption experience to meet consumer expectations.

Loyalty programs have often been considered a key motivator to shift consumers to mobile payments and away from cash and cards. But few companies have actually blended mobile with loyalty in a compelling way.

American Express is introducing one of the payments industry's first prepaid debit cards with cashback rewards in an age where the best rewards are typically reserved for the more lucrative credit card market.

The NASA Federal Credit Union will mix science non-fiction and fiction, providing Star Trek themed credit cards on request to its members.