Loyalty and rewards

Hackers are flocking to loyalty and rewards programs, pushing marketers to embed extra fraud technology to stem financial losses.

Coffee and doughnut shops such as Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme have been at the forefront of mobile payments, and this technology could soon develop into a completely cashierless experience.

Petal's getting aggressive with its incentive marketing by approaching consumers with limited credit histories, and it's betting artificial intelligence can handle the higher risk.

A crypto-based payments system from Facebook would create more competition and pressure legacy companies to up their game, says Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

After quiet experiments, Citigroup is expanding perks designed for credit cards to encourage sales of other banking products.

To fuel growth, Apple's mobile wallet needs to go beyond its core use cases of NFC and in-app payments. Apple Pay's latest project leans more heavily on NFC to do work typically handled by apps.

Apple Card's advantages are mostly available elsewhere, but Apple's marketing prowess will make it a formidable competitor, according to Jonathan Ebinger, a general partner at Blue Run Ventures.

Paytronix has spent the last few years developing a streamlined enrollment process for restaurants’ loyalty programs, but it relies on something relatively few consumers use: Apple Pay and Google Pay at the point of sale.

Mastercard’s real-time incentive marketing initiative is an acknowledgement that requiring consumers to take action to seize a special deal won’t work as well in the mobile age.

Traditional U.S. retail is in crisis at the hands of e-commerce. Bankers have a role to play to stop the bleeding through a combination of service, incentives, and payments technology.